THE 

PILGRIM  FATHERS 


OF 


NEW  ENGLAND: 


A  HISTORT 


?  V 


BY  W.  CARLOS  MAUTYN, 

AUTHOR  OF  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  JOHK  MILTON,  A  HISTOBY 
OF  THE  ENGLISH  PURITANS,  ETC. 


'Wliat  sought  they  there,  whose  steps  were  on  the  dust 
Of  the  old  forest  lords?    Not  summer  skies, 
Nor  genial  zephyrs,  nor  the  amenities 
Of  golden  spoils.     Their  strength  was  in  the  trust 
That  breasts  all  billows  of  the  abyss  of  time. 
The  EocK  OF  Ages,  and  its  hopes  sublime." 

American  Souvenir. 


PUBLISHED   BY  THE 
AMERICAN  TRACT  SOCIETY, 

150  NASSAU-STREET,   NEW  YORK. 


I 

i 

f       I 

1 


LOAN  STACK 

Entei!ED  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  18G7,  by 
the  American  Tract  Society,  in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District 
Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern  District  of  New  York. 


PREFACE. 


Lord  Bacon  assigns  the  Ligliest  meed  of  earthly 
fame  to  the  builders  of  states,  condifores  imjyeriorum. 
The  Pilgrim  Fathers  were  members  of  that  guild,  and 
their  story  belongs  to  the  heroic  age  of  America.  "No 
other  state,"  remarks  Stoughton,  "can  boast  of  such  an 
origin,  and  adorn  its  earliest  annals  with  a  tale  as  true 
as  it  is  beautiful,  as  authentic  as  it  is  sublime." 

But  aside  from  the  honor  which  attends  the  Fore- 
fathers as  the  founders  of  empire,  they  march  down  the 
ages  crowned  with  richer  and  more  fragrant  laurels ; 
for  they  built  not  for  themselves  or  for  posterity  alone, 
in  imitation  of  Eomulus,  and  Cj-rus,  and  Csesar,  and 
Ottoman  ;  they  planted  also  for  justice  and  for  God. 

Therefore  they  are  the  rightful  heirs  of  the  benedic- 
tions of  mankind ;  while  to  Americans  they  are  doubly 
precious  as  "the  parents  of  one-third  of  the  whole  white 
l^opulation  of  the  Republic." 

Of  course,  the  career  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  has  been 
often  painted  :  but  the  interest  of  the  story  is  inexhaust- 
ible, and  its  thiilling  incidents  exhibit  the  wisdom,  the 
benevolence,  the  faithfulness  of  God  in  so  many  glo- 
rious and  delightful  aspects,  and  are  so  replete  with 
facts  whose  inevitable  tendency  is  to  inflame  the  love, 
strengthen  the  faith,  and  awaken  the  wondering  grati- 
tude of  the  human  heart,  that  it  is  impossible  to  wear 
the  "  twice-told  tale  "  threadbare  by  repetition.  Besides, 
a  thoughtful  scholar,  Avho  has  himself  laid  his  garland 
of  everlasting  upon  the  altar  of  the  Pilgrims,  has  re- 


or> 


B 


4  PREFACE. 

minded  its  that,  "however  well  history  may  have  been 
■written,  it  is  desirable  that  it  should  be  re-Avritten  from 
time  to  time  by  those  who  look  from  an  advanced  posi- 
tion, giving  in  every  age  to  the  peculiar  and  marked 
developments  of  the  past,  a  simple,  compact,  and  pic- 
turesque representation." 

This  sketch  ri;ns  back  to  the  cradle  of  Puritanism  ; 
summarily  rehearses  the  causes  of  which  it  was  begot- 
ten ;  accompanies  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  across  the  chan- 
nel, and  depicts  the  salient  features  of  their  residence 
in  Holland,  and  the  reasons  which  pushed  them  to 
further  removal;  sails  with  them  in  the  "Mayflower" 
over  the  stormy  winter  sea ;  recites  in  some  detail,  the 
incidents  which  accompanied  the  settlement  at  Plym- 
outh and  the  kindi'ed  colonies  throughout  New  Eng- 
land ;  and  closes  in  the  sunshine  of  that  league  between 
the  New  England  colonies  which  was  the  prophecy  of 
the  Republic,  and  the  crowning  glory  of  those  who  are 
distinctively  called  the  Pilgrim  Fathers. 

The  volume  has  been  carefully  written,  and  it  is 
fortified  by  copious  marginal  notes  and  citations  from  a 
wide  range  of  authoritative  authors,  from  the  humblest 
diarist  to  the  most  pretentious  compiler  who  struts  in 
the  rustling  satin  of  histor3^ 

This  is  "a  round  unvarnished  tale,"  and  aims  at  fair- 
ness of  statement,  not  copying  that  dealer  in  historj' 
whom  Lucian  derides  for  always  styling  the  captain  of 
his  own  party  an  Achilles,  and  the  leader  of  the  opposi- 
tion a  Thersites.  Nor  does  it  enter  the  "debateable 
ground"  of  sectarian  polity;  but  avoiding  alike  the 
Scylla  of  indiscriminate  encomium,  and  the  Charybdis 
of  controversy,  it  merely  reproduces  the  broad  and  un- 
questioned facts  of  an  emigration  whose  purpose  and 
whose  result  was  to 

"Win  the  wilderness  for  God." 

New  York,  January,  1867. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 


Spiritual  Forces  and  the  Motors  of  Materialism— English  Puritan- 
ism—Its Conflicts  with  the  Dramatic  Eehgiou  of  the  Popes — 
Aspiration— The  Modern  Era— The  Kecast  Ecclesiasticism — 
Two  Parties  in  the  New-modelled  English  Church — The  Puri- 
tans— The  Conformists  —  The  Error  of  the  Church-and-state 
Reformers — The  Epic  of  our  Saxon  Annals — Britain,  emanci- 
pated from  the  Pope,  hugs  the  PopecZo7?i— Persecution— The 
Separatists  —  Their  Disappointment  —  The  Separatists  of  the 
North  of  England — Division  in  the  Protestant  World  — The 
Philosophy  of  Luther— Calvin's  Rationale— The  Separatists  ad- 
here to  Calvin— The  Paid  for  Exact  Conformity— The  Piloeim 
Fathers  prepare  to  quit  the  Island — Pilgrim  Traits— Obsta- 
cles—The  Attempted  Exodus— Treachery— The  Pilgrims  ' '  rifled 
by  the  Catchpole  Officers" — Imprisonment — The  Second  At- 
tempt—The Eendezvous — A  Midnight  Scene  by  the  Sea-shore — 
Arrival  of  the  Ship — The  Stranded  Barque  —  The  Captain's 
Alarm— The  Ship  sails— The  Deserted  Dear  Ones  on  Shore — 
A  Woful  Picture— Captured — The  Storm— Holland  at  last — 
Eeunion -page     17 

CHAPTER  II. 

Jhe  Quays  of  Amsterdam— Quaint  Aspect  of  the  City — Its  His- 
tory— The  Pilgrims  and  the  Dutch  Burghers— Strange  Charac- 
teristics of  Dutch  Social  Life— The  Pilgrims  go  to  Work— Their 
Employments — The  Removal  to  Leyden— Reason  of  the  Change 
of  Residence— Leyden— Its  Thrilling  Story— The  Exiles  "raise 
a  Competent  and  Decent  Living" — They  "enjoy  much  Sweet 
Society  and  Spiritual  Comfort  together  in  the  Ways  of  God  " — 
John  Robinson— Elder  Brewster — The  Pilgrims  grow  in  Knowl- 
edge and  Gifts— Their  Discipline— Robinson's  Wisdom — The 
Exiles  win  the  Cordial  Love  and  Respect  of  the  Dutch — An 


6  CONTENTS. 

Illustration— Testimony  of  the  Leyden  Magistrates— The  Con- 
troversy— Robinson  and  Episcopiiis— The  Debate — "Famous 
Victory"  of  the  English  Divine— Reformed  Churches  of  the 
Continent  —  Catholicity  of  the  Pilgrims— Their  Bias  towards 
Religious  Democracy — Peregrini  Deo  curce  - 37 

CHAPTER  III. 

Many  Circumstances  conspire  to  render  the  Exiles  anxious  and 
uneasy  in  Holland — They ' '  know  that  They  are  but  Pilgrims  " — 
The  Projected  Removal  from  the  Low  Coimtries  —  Their 
"Weighty  Reasons" — A  Grand  Germ  of  Thought — The  New 
World— Career  of  Maritime  Discovery — The  Pilgrim  Council — 
The  Debate— The  Argument  of  the  Doubters — The  Apostles 
of  the  Future — Ho,  for  America — The  Decision 52 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Pilgrim  Prayers— "  Where  shall  we  j^laut  our  Colony" — "Large 
Offers"  of  the  Dutch — Determine  to  settle  in  "the  most  North- 
ern Part  of  Virginia"  —  The  two  English  Emigration  Compa- 
nies—The Envoys — Their  Return  —  The  Letter  of  Robinson 
and  Brewster — The  Virginia  Comx^any  and  King  James — Two 
Questions— The  "Formal  Promise  of  Neglect"— The  "Mer- 
chant-adventurers " — Terms  of  the  Compact — Republicanism 
of  the  Pilgrims— Robinson's  Sermon — Who  shall  sail  with  the 
"Forlorn  Hope?"  — The  Past  —  Robinson's  Farewell  — The 
"Speedwell"  and  the  "Mayflower" — "Good-by,  Leyden"  — 
' '  Adieu,  Friends  " — The  ' '  Yo  hoy  "  of  the  Seamen 61 

CHAPTER  V. 

At  Southampton  —  The  Abortive  Departure  —  The  Number  of 
Vorjageurs  ' '  winnowed  " — Final  Embarkation — The  ' '  Floating 
Village" — On  the  Atlantic — Opening  of  Robinson's  Letter  of 
Advice— The  Seaborn  Government- All  Hail,  Democracy !-- 
Carver  elected  Governor — The  Pilgrims  propose  to  land — The 
Captain's  Mistake— Geography  of  the  Wilderness— The  Unsea- 
worthy  Shallop  —  The  Sixteen  Scouts  —  Miles  Standish — On 
Shore— First  Drink  of  New  England  Water— The  Mysterious 
Mound — The  Hidden  Corn — Pilgrim  Conscientiousness — Re- 
turn of  the  Explorers— In  the  Shallop— The  Dawn  of  Winter — 
Renewed  Search  for  a  Lauding  Spot — First  Encounter  with  the 
Indians— ' '  Woaih  wach  kaha  hack  woach  "—The  Breakers — First 
Christian  Sabbath  in  the  New  World — Plymouth  Rock-  -  -     77 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

The  Pilgrims  decide  to  settle  at  Plymouth — The  Landing^The 
First  Law — The  Pioneers  at  Work — Plan  of  the  Town — The 
Weather — Satisfaction  of  the  Pilgrims  with  the  Site  of  their 
Colony — The  Journal  —  Pilgrim  Traits — A  Page  from  Cotton 
Mather — The  Frenchman's  Proj^hecy — Social  Arrangements — • 
Standish  chosen  Captain — Births  and  Deaths — The  Block  Cita- 
del— Isolation  of  the  Pilgrims — Combination  of  Circumstances 
which  produced  the  Settlement  of  Plymouth  in  1G20 90 

CHAPTER  VII. 

The  Early  Spring  of  1621 — The  Pilgrims  Buoj'ant  and  Hopeful^ 
Planting — In  the  Woods — The  Tyro  Hunters  —A  Forest  Adven- 
ture—The Storm — On  the  Skirts  of  the  Settlement — "Welcome, 
Englishmen" — The  Solitary  Indian — His  Entertainment — Sam- 
oset's  Story  —  Valuable  Information  —  The  Kidnapper  —  The 
Nausets — Pilgrim  Description  of  Samoset — "What  shall  we  do 
with  our  Dusky  Guest?" — Samoset's  Embassy — His  Return — 
Squanto — His  Romantic  History — Massasoit — The  Redman  and 
the  Pale-face — Negotiations — The  Treaty — Its  Faithful  Observ- 
ance— A  Picture  of  Massasoit — Billington's  Offence — The  Lack- 
ey-duelists— Death — Frightful  Mortality — Burial-hill — Death  of 
Governor  Carver — Bradford  elected  Governor — Departure  of 
the  "Maj'flower" — Feeling  of  the  Pilgrims — The  "Orphans  of 
Humanity" 98 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  Pilgrim  Panacea — The  Summer — The  Prospect — AVild  Fowl, 
Shell-fish,  and  Berries — A  Glimjise  at  Plymoiith  in  1G21 — The 
Pioneers  open  the  Volume  of  Nature — Lessons  in  Woodcraft^ 
Bradford  and  the  Deer-trap — Explorations — The  Embassy  to 
Massasoit — Its  Object — The  Indian  Guide — The  Pause  at  Na- 
masket— A  New  "Kind  of  Bread"— The  "Deserted  Village"— 
The  Wigwam  "Palace"  of  Massasoit — Presents — The  Sachem 
and  the  Horseman's  Coat — The  "Pipe  of  Peace" — The  Saga- 
more's Cordiality — Massasoit's  Housekeeping — A  Full  Bed — 
Indian  Games — The  Feast — The  Return — -Honorable  and  Ami- 
cable Treatment  of  the  Indians  by  the  Pilgrim  Fathers — Ad- 
vantages of  this  Course — Barbarism  makes  an  Obeisance  to 
Civihzation — End  of  the  Indian's  Lease  of  Ages  of  the  Forest — 
The  New  Tenant  takes  Possession  in  the  Name  of  God  ai:id 
Liberty 110 


8  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

The  Lost  Boy— The  Searchiiig  Party— In  the  Shallop— The  Water 
spout — The  Bivouac — Visitors  at  the  Camp-fire— The  Indian 
Hag— Her  Strange  Emotion— The  Pdclclle  solved— ^ft  Boute 
again— The  Lost  Boy  found— His  Adventures— A  Startling  Ru- 
mor—  The   Hasty  Eeturn  —  Intrigues  —  The  Narragansetts 

Squanto,  Tokamahamon,  and  Habbamak  —  Corbitant's  Wiles— 
The  Runner's  News— Departure  of  Standish  and  his  "Army" 
of  Fourteen  ]\Ien— The  Forest  March— On  the  YVar-trail— The 
Sleeping  Village— The  Bloodless  Assault— "Friend,  Friend"— 
Flight  of  Corbitant— Safety  of  Squanto  and  Tokamahamon— 
Homeward— Good  Effect  of  the  Bloodless  Eaid— Heroism  and 
Kindness  of  the  Pilgrims— The  Midnight  Expedition  of  Miles 
Standish  — Boston  Bay,  and  the  Eiver  Charles  — The  "Har- 
vest Honae"— "New  England's  First  Fruits "  — Building  at 
Plymouth— The  Variety  of  Game— The  First  Thanksgiving— 
"Free  Eange"- -. 12I 

CHAPTER  X. 

The  Strange  Sail— "Is  it  a  Frenchman,  or  a  Buccaneer ?"— War- 
like Preparations— The  English  Jack— Joy  of  the  Pilgrims— 
Ai-rival  of  the  "  Fortune  "—News  from  Home— The  Eeinforce- 
ment— A  Moment  of  Sadness— The  Letter  Budget— The  Loudon 
Company  under  a  Cloud— Course  of  the  King— A  Technical 
Difficulty— The  New  Patent  -Weston's  Complaint  and  Brad- 
ford's Eeply— Departure  of  the  "Fortune"— Cush man's  Ser- 
mon—The Bane  of  Plantations— Winslow's  Letter  Home— Hil- 
ton's Missive— Social  Life  and  Wants  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers— 
The  "  Fortune's  "  Mishap  - 13i 

CHAPTER  XI. 

Provisions  for  the  New-comers— Danger  of  Famine— Hardships- 
Patient  Spirit  of  the  Pilgrims— Brewster's  Submission— JlioraZe 
of  the  Colon  J'— Some  "Lewd  Fellows  of  the  Baser  Sort"  get 
"shuffled"  into  the  "Mayflower's"  Company— Character  of  the 
Eecent  Eeinforcement— Bradford's  Government— The  Laws- 
Bradford  and  the  "Tender  Consciences"  —  The  Controlling 
Element — Homogeneitj'^  — I44 

CH.APTER  XII. 

The  Sahent  Features  of  the  Colonial  Government— The  "Proper 
Democracy"— The  Course  of  England— The  Governor— The 
Council— The  Legislative  Body— Test  of  Citizenship— Eeasons 


CONTENTS.  9 

and  Excuses  for  It  —  Early  Decrees — The  Jury  Trial  —  First 
Laws — The  Digest — Provision  for  Education — The  Old  Statute 
Book  of  the  Colony — Unique  Legislation — First  Marriage  in 
New  England — Marriage  a  Civil  Contract 149 


-"o 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Second  AVinter  in  the  Wilderness — Faith  as  a  IMotor — Anxiety — 
The  Indian  and  the  Package— A  Prisoner — The  Riddle  Solved — 
The  Mj'sterious  Rattlesnake  Skin — Defensive  Measures — First 
"General  Muster"  in  New  England — The  Expedition  and  the 
Alarm — Habbamak's  Confidence — The  Sqiiaw-scout — No  Dan- 
ger— The  Expedition  resumed — Squanto's  Freaks — The  Boast 
of  a  Travelled  Indian  —  The  Buried  Plague  —  The  Cheat  im- 
cloaked — Himger — The  Boat  and  the  Letter-bag — Cold  Com- 
fort— Dissensions  among  the  Merchant-adventurers  in  Lon- 
don— Bradford's  Comments - " 156 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Arrival  of  the  "Charity"  and  the  "Swan"— The  News— Weston's 
Desertion — The  Situation  in  England  —  In  a  Quandary — The 
Pilgrims  entertain  AVeston's  Rival  Colony — AVord  brought  of  a 
Massacre  in  Virginia  —  AVinslow's  Mission  to  the  Coast  of 
Maine — Tlie  Double  Benefit — Morale  of  the  AVestonians — They 
finally  settle  at  AVessagusset— Their  Lazy  Mismanagement — 
Bradford's  Rebuke— The  Forayers— Bradford's  AValk  of  Fifty 
Miles — Death  of  Squanto— The  Lean  Harvest  —  The  English 
Trading  Ship— Progress  in  Building  at  Plymouth — How  the 
Pilgrims  went  to  Church 168 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Affairs  at  AVessagusset — Expostulations  and  Appeals  of  the  Pil- 
grims— An  Anecdote — Reported  Sickness  of  Massasoit — Pilgrim 
Embassy  to  visit  Him — On  the  AYay — The  Death  Song — Corbi- 
tant's  Lodge — At  Massasoit's  Wigwam — The  Pow-wows — AVius- 
low  and  the  Sachem — The  Cure^Massasoit  discloses  a  Con- 
spiracy— The  Return — The  Envoys  and  Corbitant — A  Shrewd 
Sagamore — How  the  Pilgrims  communicated  Religious  Truth — 
Deliberation  at  Plymouth — A  Frightened  Messenger  from  AVes- 
sagusset—  The  Expedition  of  Miles  Standish  —  Standish  and 
the  AVestonians — Sad  Condition  of  that  Colony— The  Plot  dis- 
closed—  Indian  Braggadocio — The  Two  Knives— The  Little 
Man  and  the  Big  Man  —  Patience  of  Standish — The  Death- 
grapple — Habbamak's  Comment — The  Skirmish — The  "Capital 
Exploit "  of  Miles  Standish — The  AVestonians  abandon  AVessa- 

1* 


10  CONTENTS. 

gusset  —  End  of  a  Colony  whose  "Main  End  was  to  catch 
Fish" — Wetawamat's  Head — A  Liberation — News  of  the  Baffled 
Conspiracy  reaches  Leyden  —  Robinson's  Fine  Comment — 
Strength  and  Weakness 178 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

The  Mysterioiis  Blacksmith — Weston  at  Plymonth — A  Favor^ 
Ingratitude — Continued  Famine  at  Plymouth— The  Commu- 
nity of  Interest — How  it  worked — Its  Partial  Abandonment — 
Facts  brain  Plato's  Theory — Bradford's  Argument  against  the 
Communal  Idea — The  Pilgrims  rest  on  Providence — ^Their  Shifts 
to  live — The  Ih'ought — The  Fast — The  Answered  Prayer — ■ 
Rain  at  last — Habbamak's  Remarks — Five  Kernels  of  Corn — 
A  Package  of  Home  Letters — Pierce's  Patent — He  "vomits  it 
up" — Captain  Fi-ancis  West  —  New  Recruits — The  "Annie" 
and  the  "Little  James" — -Feeling  among  the  New-comers  — 
Cushmau's  E]3istle — A  Prescient  Scribe  - -- 193 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

The  Lading  of  the  "Anne" — Winslow  departs  for  England  — 
Plenty  once  more  —  Social  Arrangements^ Robert  Gorges — 
Birth  and  Death  of  Another  Colony  at  Wessagusset — Morrel's 
Latin  Poem  —  Prosperity  of  Pljanoiith^An  Election  —  The 
Mishaps  of  a  Fishing  Expetlition — ^Preparations  for  Planting — 
Winslow's  Return — What  he  brought — The  Pui-pose  and  Ani- 
mus of  the  London  Company  of  Merchant-adventurers — John 
Lyford  —  Circumstances  of  his  Advent — John  Oldham — The 
Pernicious  League — Onslaught  upon  the  Pilgrim  Government — 
Wolves  in  the  Sheepfold — The  Intercepted  Letters — An  Explo- 
sion— "Oldham  "tamed" — Lyford's  Trial  —  The  Sentence — 
Winslow's  Expose  in  England  and  America  —  Running  the 
Gtiuntlet — Banishment  of  L\^ord  and  Oldham— Effect  of  the 
Lyford  Troubles — ^Brewster's  IVIinistry— An  Exception  to  the 
Indian  Doctrine  of  "Poor  Pay,  Poor  Preach" — Tenets  of  the 
Plymouth  Church — "Brown  Bread  and  the  Gospel  is  Good 
fare  "—Liberty  --- - - ---  205 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

The  Pilgrims  initiate  Measures  to  buy  out  the  Merchant-adven- 
turers— Standish  sails  for  England  on  this  Errand — His  Nar- 
row Escape  from  Capture  by  a  Turkish  Rover  —  His  Partial 
Success  and  Return — Sad  News — Death  of  Cushman  in  Eng- 
land— Death  of  Robinson  at  Leyden — Last  Hours  and  Charac- 
ter of  the  Moses  of  the  Pilgrims  — 227 


CONTENTS.  11 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

Progress  of  Population  at  Plymouth — Smith's  Keport — A  Leaf  from 
Bradl'ord's  Journal — Eomulus  and  Pome ;  Plymouth  and  the 
Pilgrims— The  Winter  of  1G2G-7— Allerton's  Embassy  to  Eng- 
land— His  Success — The  "Undertakers" — -The  New  Oi'ganiza- 
tion — Plan  of  Division — Habbamak's  Grant  —  First  Coveted 
Luxury  of  the  Emancipated  Colony — Allerton's  Second  Mis- 
sion— Provision  made  for  the  Transportation  of  the  Remainder 
of  the  Leyden  Congregation — Patent  for  Land  on  the  Kenne- 
bec— The  New  Trading  Station— A  Crazy  Clergyman — Catho- 
licity of  the  Plymouth  Church — Wide  Range  of  the  Pilgrim 
Enterprise — Commerce  opened  with  the  Dutch  at  New  Amster- 
dam— Isaac  de  Easieres  at  Plymouth — AVampum — The  Pilgrim 
Settlement  as  seen  through  the  Eyes  of  a  Dutchman — Joyous 
Arrival  of  the  Leyden  Exiles — How  They  were  received — Mount 
WoUaston — Thomas  Morton  turns  it  into  a  Den  of  Plot  and 
Debaiichery — Grief  of  the  Pilgrims — Expostulation — Affront — 
End  of  an  Experimentam  Orucis  of  Immorality — The  Pilgrims 
find  "All  Things  working  together  for  their  Good" 232 

CHAPTER  XX. 

English  PoUtics — The  Puritans  and  the  Pilgrims— Multitudes  in 
Britain  prepare  for  Emigi-ation  —  Roger  Conant  —  Old  John 
White  of  Dorchester — The  Point  d'Jppui — White's  Message — 
Conant's  Determination — Agitation  at  London — A  New  Scheme 
for  Puritan  Emigration — It  is  patronized  by  Men  of  Substance 
and  "Gentlemen  born"  —  The  Lock  opened  by  the  Silver 
Key — A  Patent — John  Endicott  leads  a  Colony  into  New  Eng- 
land— Salem  settled — The  English  Hermit — Individuality  of 
the  Saxon  Race — The  Explorers  colonize  Charlestown — News 
of  Endicott's  Success  in  England — Incorporation  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Company — Its  Powers — An  Old  Legend 249 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

Organization  of  the  Slassachusetts  Company — A  Unique  Letter  of 
Instruction  to  Endicott  —  The  Soil  ordered  to  be  purchased 
of  the  Indian  Owners — A  Blast  against  Tobacco — The  Colonial 
Seal — Preparations  for  the  Embarkation  of  Fresh  Emigrants — ■ 
Buckingham — Strafford — Laud — Puritans  Eager  to  Emigrate — 
The  Flotilla— The  Plentiful  Provision  of  "  Godly  Ministers"— 
Bright  —  Smith  —  Higginson — Skelton — "Farewell,  Dear  Eng- 
land"— Britain  does  not  know  her  Heroes — The  Landing  at 
Salem — Higginson's  Impressions — The  Pilgrims  plant  a  Church 
at  Salem — Cordial  Relations  opened  with  the  Plymouth  Colo- 


12  CONTENTS. 

nists  —  Endicott's  Letter  to  Bradford— An  Additional  Link  in 
the  Chain  of  Friendship — Ordination  of  Higginson  and  Skel- 
ton — The  Ceremony — Bradford's  Tardy  Arrival — The  Confes 
sion  of  Faith — Birth  of  the  Theocracy — Dissatisfaction  of  the 
Church  of  England  men  at  Salem — The  Brothers  Brown — 
Breach  of  the  Peace  imminent — Endicott  sends  the  Browns 
home  to  England— Eudicott  cautioned  by  the  Massachusetts 
Company - 2G0 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

The  New  Colony  outstrips  Plymouth — Intense  Interest  in  the 
Colonies  felt  in  England — Higginson's  Tract — Men  of  Wealth 
and  Position  prepare  to  emigrate — One  Thing  makes  Them 
Hesitate — Character  of  the  Charter — The  "Open  Sesame" — 
Alienation  of  the  Government  of  the  Companj' — A  Daring  Con- 
straction  changes  a  Trading  Corporation  into  a  Provincial 
Government — Joy  of  the  Would-be  Emigrants — The  Election — 
An  Extensive  Emigration  set  Afoot — The  Fleet  of  Ten  Vessels — 
In  the  Cabin  of  the  "Arbella" — Winthrop — Dudley — Hum- 
phrey— Johnson — Saltonstall  —  Eaton — Bradstreet — Vassall — 
The  Women  of  the  Enteri)rise — The  Lady  Arbella  Johnson — 
The  Fai'ewell  at  Yarmouth — On  the  Atlantic 274 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

"Land  ho!" — The  Supper  at  Salem— Sickness— Explorations — 
The  Settlement  at  Cambridge — Biisy  Days — Death — The  Last 
Hours  of  Francis  Higginson — Death  of  Ai-bella  Johnson — Grief 
and  Death  of  her  Husband — The  Mortality  List — Cambridge 
partially  Deserted — Settlement  of  Boston  —  The  Original  Oc- 
cupant of  Shawmut  Peninsula  —  Blackstone's  Oddities — The 
"Lord  Bishops"  and  the  "Lord  Brethren" — Activity  of  the 
Colonists — The  View  from  Beacon  Hill  —  Winthrop's  Cheery 
Letter  to  his  Wife 286 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Fundamental  Law  of  the  Colonies  of  Massachusetts  Baj' — Earliest 
Legislation — First  General  Assembly — The  Deraoci-atic  Ten- 
dency— The  Test  of  Citizenship — Betlections — Animadversions 
on  the  Theocratic  Plan — The  Acorn  and  the  Oak 293 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

Life  in  the  Wilderness — ^Winthrop's  Adventure — The  False  Alarm — 
The  Settlers  and  the  Wolves  well  frightened — The  Courtship 
of  Miles  Sttindish — Alden's  Wedding — Morton  once  more  at 


CONTENTS.  13 

•'Merry  Mount" — Au  Execution  —  Eadcliflf,  and  liis  Punish- 
ment—The Mysterious  Stranger— A  Knight  of  the  Holy  Sepul- 
chre astray  in  the  Wilderness — The  Three  "Wives — The  Pur- 
suit—An Unmasked  Jesuit — The  "Italian  Method"  tabooed  in 
New  England — Satan's  lU-manners^Utopia — A  Sentence  from 
Demosthenes — Great  Combat  between  a  Mouse  and  a  Snake — 
Its  Significance  —  Fresh  Arrivals  —  Eliot  —  Eoger  Williams- 
Attachment  of  the  Pilgrims  to  their  Eocky  Eefuge— How.New 
England  looked  to  a  Puritan — How  it  looked  to  a  Churchman — 
A  Difference  of  Standpoint  —  The  Brood  of  Townlets  —  The 
AVestem  Wilds  no  longer  Tenantless 299 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

The  Advance  of  Civilization — Growth  of  Plymouth — Ealph  Smiths 
Winthrop  visits  Bradford — -Gubernatorial  Civilities  in  the  Olden 
Time  —  Leaves  from  Winthrop's  Note-book  —  The  Primitive 
Ferry-boat— Bradford's  Mare — The  Empty  Contribution-box — 
Boundary  Quarrel  with  the  French — The  Compliments  of  the 
Gentlemen  from  the  Isle  of  Ehe — How  They  were  answered — 
The  Valley  of  the  Connecticut — Efforts  to  colonize  those  Bot- 
tom Lauds — Bradford  solicits  Winthrop  to  organize  a  United 
Effort  for  that  Purpose  —  The  Sachem's  Offer — Winthrop's 
Eefusal — The  Plymo\;th  Pilgrims  determine  to  enter  Connec- 
ticut unassisted — The  Dutch  attempt  to  balk  Them — The  Pil- 
grims colonize  Windsor — A  few  Dutch  Oaths — A  War-path  which 
ended  in  a  Hug — An  Infectious  Fever  at  Plymouth — Conse- 
quent Mortality— Some  "Strange  Flies"— Ebb  and  Flow  of 
the  Tide  of  Emigration — Attempted  Emigration  of  Hazlerigge, 
Pym,  Hampden,  and  Cromwell — They  are  stopped  by  an  Order 
in  Council — The  King's  Faux  Pas — Three  Famous  Men  em- 
bark for  New  England,  and  supply  The  Great  Necessities  of 
the  Colonists — Haynes — Cotton — Hooker — Title  by  which  the 
Settlers  hold  their  Lands — Progress  towards  Democracy — Cot- 
ton's Sermon  against  Eotation  in  Office — Its  Non-effect — Colo- 
nial Authority  divided  between  Two  Branches — Law  against 
Ai-bitrary  Taxation — Eepresentative  Eepublicanism — A  Dream 
broken -- 314 

CHAPTER  XXYII. 

The  Pilgrim  Fathers  and  the  Mosaic  Code — Toleration  in  the 
Seventeenth  Century — American  and  European  Thinkers  alike 
reject  it— r Arrival  of  Eoger  Williams  at  Boston — His  Motives 
for  Emigration — His  Hopes  and  Views — Speedily  attracts  At- 


14  CONTENTS. 

tention  —  His  Devotion  to  the  Principle  of  Toleration  —  His 
Advocacy  of  it  places  Him  in  Direct  Opposition  to  the  System 
on  which  Massachusetts  is  founded — Under  the  Frown  of  the 
Authorities — Williams  refuses  to  join  the  Boston  Church — His 
Declaration — Statement  of  his  Idea  of  Toleration — The  Pilgrims 
regard  Him  as  a  Dangeroiis  Heresiarch  Avith  "a  Windmill  in 
his  Head  " — Consternation  at  Boston  on  the  Rumor  of  Williams' 
Instalment  in  the  Place  of  Higginson  at  Salem — Winthrop's 
Letter  of  Expostulation — The  Salem  Church  does  not  heed  it — 
Williams  begins  to  preach — Quits  Salem  for  Plymouth — Brad- 
ford's Estimate  of  the  Young  Welchman — Williams  cements  a 
Lasting  and  Cordial  Friendship  with  the  Indians — Returns  to 
Salem  on  Skelton's  Death — Becommencement  of  his  Struggle 
with  the  Colonial  Government — His  Pamphlet  on  the  Charter — 
His  Betraction — Ought  Women  to  appear  Veiled  at  Church  ? — 
Williams  says  Yes,  Cotton  says  No  —  Cotton  convinces  the 
Ladies — The  English  Commission  for  the  Regulation  of  the 
Colonies — The  Pilgrims  decide  to  "avoid  and  in-otract" — En- 
dicott  cuts  the  Cross  out  of  the  English  Flag — Williams  speaks 
against  the  "Freeman's  Oath" — Trouble — Williams'  Democ- 
racy—  Points  of  Variance  between  the  Reformer  and  the 
Colonists  —  The  Citation  —  Williams  before  the  Court  —  His 
Frank  Defence — Banishment — The  Flight  through  the  Winter 
Woods — Animadversions  —  Months  of  Vicissitude  —  Settlement 
of  Providence — Williams  bases  his  Colony  on  Toleration  and 
Democracy  —  Mather's  Epigram  —  Williams  makes  a  Distinc- 
tion between  Toleration  and  License — Williams'  First  Visit  to 
England — Intimacy  with  Vane  and  Milton^The  Second  Visit — 
Cromwell  and  Marvell  added  to  his  List  of  Trans-atlantic 
Friends — Elected  on  his  Return  President  of  the  Providence 
Plantations— Excelsior — Williams  and  the  Indians — An  Inci- 
dent—  Reflections  on  the  Work  and  Character  of  Roger  Wil- 
liams   33i 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

Progress  of  New  England  in  Material  Prosperitj' — Arrival  of  Three 
Thousand  Settlers  in  a  Single  Year  — An  Illustrious  Trio  — 
Hugh  Peters  —  The  Younger  Winthrop  —  Sir  Harry  Vane  —  A 
Long  Smouldering  Feud  iDlacated — -Value  which  the  Pilgrims 
set  on  Education  —  Good  and  Bad  Universities  —  A  Piiblic 
School  i^lanted  at  Cambridge  —  Harvard  College  —  Relations 
between  Learning  and  Manners — Enlarged  Colonization  of  New 
England — The  Plymoiith  Pilgrims  at  Windsor — The  Yoiinger 
Winthrop  at  Saybrook — Hooker's  Parishioners  at  Cambridge — 
Petition  for  "Enlargement  or  Removal" — The  Advance  Guard 


CONTENTS.  15 

of  Civilization— The  New  Hesperia  of  Puritanism — Hooker  and 
Hayues  lead  a  Colony  into  Connecticut  and  settle  at  Hart- 
ford— Pilgrimage  from  the  Seashore  to  the  • '  Delightful  Banks  " 
of  the  Inland  Eiver — Liberality  of  the  New-born  Colony — New 
Haven  planted  by  English  Puritans — Colonization  of  Guilford, 
Milford,  and  Long  Island — Character  of  these  Settlers — Com- 
merce and  Agriculture  as  the  Basis  of  New  Stat^ — Constitution 
of  New  Haven — The  First  Political  Paper  ever  cradled  in  a 
Manger — The  Connecticut  Colonists  and  the  Di;tch  at  Nev/ 
Amsterdam  quarrel  over  their  Boundary  Line  —  A  Yankee 
Euse — The  Dutchmen  and  the  Onion  Rows — Isolation  of  the 
New  Settlements — The  War-whooi3 35? 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

The  Pilgrims  and  the  Indians  —  Stern  Justice  with  which  the 
Forefathers  treated  the  Aborigines — An  Illustration — Murder 
in  the  Woods — Its  Punishment — End  of  the  Epoch  of  Peace — 
Reason  AVhy — The  Pequods — Uncas — The  Pequod  Embassy  to 
the  Narragansetts — The  Forests  pregnant  with  Insurrection — 
Vane  solicits  the  Intervention  of  Roger  Williams — The  Solitary 
Canoe — Williams  in  the  Wigwam  of  Miantonomoh — The  Pequod 
Diplomats  at  Work — Williams  pushes  his  Dangerous  Opposi- 
tion—Old Friendship  prevails — The  Narragansetts  refuse  to 
dig  up  the  Hatchet — The  Pequods  take  the  War-path  alone — 
Sassacus  —  First  Patter  of  the  Coming  Storm  —  A  Thrilling 
Scene  on  the  Connecticut  River — The  Captured  Pinnace  — 
Border  Gallantry — A  Unique  Naval  Battle — How  News  travelled 
in  the  Olden  Time — Endicott  on  the  Trail — A  Pilgrim  Friar 
Tuck  —  Failure — Pandemonium  —  New  England  trembles  on 
the  Verge  of  Death — Energy  of  the  Colonists — Mason's  Ex- 
pedition— The  Council  of  War — The  Chaplain's  Praj'er — Off 
Point  Judith — The  Landing — The  Seaside  Bivouac — The  Mid- 
night March — The  Pequod  Village — A  ■ '  Sound  of  Revelry  by 
Night"— The  Indian  Fort  — The  Night  Attack  —  Scenes  of 
Horror — The  Flight  of  Sassacus — The  Pursuit — The  Swamp 
Battle — The  Sagamore's  Escape — The  Gory  Scalp-lock — ' '  Sa- 
chem's Head  " — Death,  and  Servitude  of  the  Survivors — Civil- 
ization Victorious — 370 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

Pilgrim  Exclusiveness — The  Old  Alien  Law — Dissenters  swarm 
into  Massachvisetts  Bay — Agitation — The  Two  Parties — Anne 
Hutchinson  —  A  Commendable  Practice  —  Mrs.  Hutchinson's 
Week-day  Lectures — The  " Covenant  o.':  Works "  and  the  "Coy- 


16  CONTENTS. 

ennnt  of  Grace  " — Heady  Cnirent  of  Dissension — Horror  of  the 
Pilgrims  —  Antinomianism  —  Familism  —  The  Female  Heresi- 
arch — The  "Legalists" — Mutual  Exasperation — Vane's  Dis- 
gust—  Wreck  of  Vane's  Administration — Winthro^j's  Law  — 
Vane's  lieiDly — The  Founders  of  the  Colony  regain  their  Influ- 
ence— Trial  of  Anne  Hutchinson — Cotton  and  his  Proteyi — 
"  Immediate  Reveliitions  " — Banishment  of  the  Antinomians — 
Roger  Williams  welcomes  the  Exiles  to  Providence — Purchase 
and  Settlement  of  Rhode  Island— A  Happy  Result  from  an 
Unhappy  Cause 388 

CHAPTER  XXXL 

Law  as  the  Reflection  of  National  Character — Pilgrim  Legisla- 
tion— The  Homes  of  New  England — Origin  of  Towns — Town 
Meetings— Duty  of  voting—' '  Prudential  Men  "—An  Odd  Trait- 
Pilgrims  fined  for  refusing  to  hold  Office — High  Character  of  the 
Early  Governors  —  Bradford  —  Edward  Wiuslow  and  Thomas 
Prince — Winthrop — Dudley — Vane — Endicott  —  Other  Pivotal 
Men — God's  Benediction  on  New  England — 400 

CHAPTEE  XXXII. 

New  England  in  1641  —  Inhabitants  —  Villages  —  Churches  — 
Houses  —  Agricvilture  —  Commerce  —  Trade  —  Manufactures  — - 
Foreign  Influence  of  the  Pilgrims — The  Tone  of  New  England 
in  treating  with  the  Long  Parliament  during  the  Civil  War — 
Two  Rejected  In A'itations— Consolidation  of  Colonial  Liberty — 
The  Oppressed  made  Guests  of  the  Commonwealth — The  Germ 
of  Union — The  United  Colonxes  of  New  England — Character 
of  the  Leagiae  —  Reflections  — •  Colonial  Union  the  Crowning 
Service  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  to  Humanity  —  The  Second 
Generation — The  Work  and  the  Lesson  of  the  Pilgrim  Fa- 
thers   - 415 


THE 

PILGRIM  FATHERS 


or 


NEW  ENGLAND 


CHAPTEE  I. 

THE    EXODUS. 


"Nothing  is  liere  for  tears  ;  notliing  to  wail 
Or  knock  the  breast ;  no  weakness,  no  contempt, 
Dispraise  or  blame  ;  nothing  biit  well  and  fair." 

Milton,  Samson  Arjonisfes. 

The  influence  of  tliat  mysterious  triad,  the 
gold  eagle,  the  silver  dollar,  and  the  copper  cent, 
has  been  overestimated.  Spiritual  forces  are  more 
potent  than  the  motors  of  materialism.  The  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount  outweighs  the  law  of  gravity. 
Ethics  make  safer  builders  than  stocks.  Two  hun- 
dred years  ago,  commercial  enterprise  essayed  to 
subdue  the  New  World  in  the  interest  of  greedy 
trade,  hungering  for  an  increase;  but  though  offi- 
cered by  the  brightest  genius  and  the  highest  daring 
of  the  age,  backed  by  court  favor  and  bottomed  on 
the  deepest  bank-vaults  of  London,  the  effort  failed. 


18  THE  PILGKIM  FATHEES. 

Where  physical  forces  balked,  a  moral  sentiment 
bore  off  a  trophy.  The  most  prosperous  of  the 
American  colonies  were  planted  by  religion.  New 
^England  is  the  child  of  English  Puritanism ;  and 
yet,  paradoxical  as  it  may  seem,  antedates  its  birth. 
Men  say  that  the  history  of  New  England  dates 
from  1620.  'T  is  a  mistake.  New  England  was  in 
the  brain  of  Wickliffe  Avhen,  in  the  infancy  of  Brit- 
ain, he  uttered  his  first  protest  against  priestcraft 
and  pronounced  the  Christianity  of  Rome  a  juggle. 
New  England,  in  esse,  was  born  in  that  chill  Decem- 
ber on  Plymouth  Rock;  New  England,  in  posse,  was 
cradled  in  the  pages  of  the  first  printed  copy  of 
the  English  Bible. 

Soil  does  not  make  a  state;  nor  does  geograph- 
ical position.  That  spot  of  ground  Avhich  men  call 
Athens  does  not  embrace  the  immortal  city.  It 
bears  up  its  masonry;  but  the  Athens  of  Socrates 
and  of  Plato  exists  in  the  mind  of  every  scholar. 
The  intellectual  and  moral  elements  which  enter 
into  and  shape  it,  these  are  the  real  state.  In  this 
sense.  New  England  was  in  the  pages  of  the  Puri- 
tan publicists,  in  the  psalms  of  the  Lollards,  and  in 
the  prayers  of  Bradwardine,  centuries  before  that 
winter's  voyage  into  the  dreary  wilderness. 

Society,  government,  law,  the  graces  of  civil- 
ity, the  economic  formulas,  are  growths.  "Books, 
schools,  education,"  sa^^s  Humboldt,  "  are  the  scaf- 
folding by  means  of  which  God  builds  up  the  human 
soul."  There  are  no  isolated  facts.  Events  do  not 
occur  at  hap-hazard.     Each  effect  has  its  cause ;  it 


THE   EXODUS.  19 

may  lie  buried  beneath  many  blinding  strata,  so 
that  it  must  be  dug  for,  but  it  exists. 

Puritanism  was  not  a  sudden  creation.  It  did 
not  crop  out  of  the  sixteenth  century  unexpectedly, 
and  begin  to  impeach  formalism  without  a  cause. 
It  was  a  growth.  "  It  was  as  old  as  the  truth  and 
manliness  of  England.  Among  the  thoughtful  and 
earnest  islanders,  the  dramatic  religion  of  the  popes 
had  never  struck  so  deep  root  as  in  continental 
soil."'^'  Chafed  and  weary,  the  people  had  long 
demanded  a  purer  and  more  spiritual  faith.  The 
strong  repressive  hand  of  the  Vatican  was  not  able 
to  stop  the  mouth  of  unwearied  complaint.  Think- 
ers were  convinced  that  Rome  had  paganized  Chris- 
tianity. Christ  was  banished  from  all  active  influ- 
ence. He  could  only  be  reached  and  "  touched 
with  the  feeling  of  our  infirmities"  through  the 
intercession  of  saints,  who  were  constantly  invoked. 
The  popes  professed  to  possess  a  fund  of  superero- 
gation, which  they  might  dispense  at  will ;  and  this 
became  their  stock  in  trade.  Salvation  by  merito- 
rious works  was  preached.  Brokers  in  souls  hawked 
their  celestial  wares  in  every  market-place.  Rome, 
an  incarnate  Pharisee,  made  broad  its  phylactery, 
and  hid  beneath  it  a  dead  religion  and  a  corrupt 
church.'!' 

From  Wickliffe  to  Tyndale,  a  few  earnest,  de- 
vout men  had  impeached  this  cheat.     But  the  influ- 

*  Palfrey,  Hist,  of  NeW  England,  vol.  1,  p.  101. 

t  Perhaps  this  whole  chapter  of  history  is  nowhere  more  graph- 
ically treated  than  in  D'Aubigue's  Hist,  of  the  Ref.  in  the  Sixteenth 
Century.     See  also,  Eanke's  Hist,  of  the  Popes. 


23  THE  PILGEIM  FATHERS. 

ence  of  these  teachers  was  at  best  but  local.  They 
■were  barely  able  to  keep  the  gospel  torch  aglow, 
and  to  pass  it  doAvn  from  hand  to  hand  through 
the  dusky  centuries.  The  masses  were  affrighted 
from  the  pursuit  of  knowledge  by  the  jingle  of  the 
rusty  and  forged  keys  of  St.  Peter,  Avhich  locked 
the  storehouse  of  divine  revelation,  and  barred  the 
investigations  of  the  human  mind. 

The  modern  era  dawned  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury. The  invention  of  printing  was  the  avant  cou- 
rier of  reform.  The  reformers  gained  a  fulcrum  for 
their  lever.  Scholars  might  shake  the  dust  from 
their  mouldy  folios,  and  by  opening  the  early  rec- 
ords, convict  Eome  of  heresy.  Their  conclusions 
might  then  be  scattered  broadcast  on  the  wings  of 
the  press.  "Well  might  the  perturbed  ghost  of  La^in 
Orthodoxy  exclaim, 

"Ah,  fatal  age,  which  gave  mankind 
A  Luther  and  a  Faustus." 

Bibles  were  everywhere  opened.  Reform  swept 
from  the  mountains  of  Bohemia  into  Germany; 
crossing  the  Saxon  plains,  it  entered  the  Nether- 
lands ;  thence  it  passed  the  channel  into  England. 
In  the  island  it  Was  received  with  enthusiasm.  The 
government,  from  personal  motives,  extended  to  it 
the  hand  of  fellowship ;  the  people  adopted  it,  be- 
cause they  felt  the  inadequacy  of  Romanism  to 
meet  their  religious  wants." 

Home  did  not  strike  its  flag  without  a  struggle. 
As  Demetrius  was  shocked  when  Paul,  a  wandering 
*  Uhden,  New  England  Theocracy,  p.  15. 


THE   EXODUS.  21 

preaclier  from  Tarsus,  impeached  his  Diana,  so  the 
Vatican  professed  to  be  horrified  when  the  reform- 
ers inveiglied  against  the  popedom.  "Socrates" — 
so  runs  the  old  Grecian  indictment — "is  guilty  of 
crime  for  not  worshipping  the  gods  whom  the  city 
worship,  but  introducing  new  divinities  of  his  own."* 
The  adherents  of  the  ancient  faith  tacked  a  similar 
indictment  upon  the  front  of  the  reform.  Where  they 
dared,  they  invoked  the  thumb-screw  and  kindled  an 
auto-da-fe.  When  they  could  not  fight  with  these 
congenial  weapons,  they  made  faces  at  their  oppo- 
nents, and  hurled  epithets.  The  iconoclasts  were 
called  "  infidels."  Hooker  and  Hales,  Stillingfleet, 
and  Cudworth,  and  Taylor  were  thus  stigmatized.f 
And  indeed,  "  this  is  a  cry  which  the  timid,  the  ignor- 
ant, the  indolent,  and  the  venal  are  apt  to  raise 
against  those  who,  faithful  to  themselves,  go  boldly 
forward,  using  the  past  only  to  show  them  wdiat  the 
present  is,  and  what  the  future  should  be." 

These  men  recast  the  ecclesiasticism  of  their 
age.  The  essence  of  Komanism  was  extracted  from 
their  creed,  but  many  of  its  forms  were  retained. 
Then,  within  the  new-built  temple  of  the  English 
church,  there  arose  two  parties.  The  Puritans 
demanded  the  complete  divorce  of  the  reformed 
church  from  Rome,  in  its  ceremonies  and  in  its 
belief.  They  strove  to  inaugurate  the  purity  and 
simplicity  of  what  they  conceived  to  be  the  primi- 
tive worship.     They  esteemed  the  retained  forms 

'-•  Grote,  Hist,  of  Greece. 

t  Preface  to  Warbtirton's  Divine  Legation. 


22  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

to  be  pregnant  with  mischief,  in  that  they  were  the 
badges  of  their  former  servitude,  and  because  they 
tended  to  bridge  over  the  chasm  between  Kome 
and  the  Reformation.* 

At  the  outset,  the  Puritans  did  not  quarrel  with 
the  English  Establishment ;  they  all  claimed  to 
be  wathin  its  pale,!'  and  many  of  their  leaders 
were  men  of  high  ecclesiastical  standing,  of  the 
truest  lives,  and  of  the  loftiest  genius;  but  they 
held  to  the  spirit  rather  than  to  the  letter ;  to  the 
substance  of  the  church,  not  to  its  forms.:}: 

The  Conformists  considered  the  ceremonies  to 
be  non-essential;  but  they  desired  to  retain  them, 
partly  because  they  were  enamoured  of  those  old 
associations  which  they  symbolized,  but  chiefly  be- 
cause they  dreaded  the  effect  of  too  sudden  and 
radical  a  change  upon  the  peace  of  the  island.  Be- 
sides, to  facilitate  the  passage  from  Romanism  to 
the  reformed  church,  they  were  willing  to  step  to 
the  verge  of  their  consciences  in  the  retention  of 
the  old  forms,  and  in  the  incorporation  of  those 
features  of  the  ancient  faith  into  the  outward  struc- 
ture of  the  new  theology  which  were  not  intrinsi- 
cally bad.§ 

*  Neale,  Hist,  of  the  Puritans.  Collier's  Church  Hist.  Hal- 
lam,  Const.  Hist,  of  Eng. 

t  See  ' '  An  Account  of  the  Principles  and  Practices  of  Several 
Non-conformists,  wherein  it  appears  that  their  religion  is  no  other 
than  that  which  is  professed  in  the  Church  of  England,"  etc.  By 
Mr.  John  Corbet ;  London,  1682. 

X  Elliot,  Hist,  of  New  Eng.,  vol.  1,  p.  43. 

§  Fuller,  Church  Hist.     Strype,  Life  of  Parker.     Heylin,  Life  ^ 
of  Lord  Clarendon. 


THE  EXODUS.  23 

Unquestionably  honest  minds  might  differ  in 
this  policy.  "  But  certainly  the  doctrine  of  the 
Puritans  concerning  the  connection  and  mutual 
influence  between  forms  and  opinions,  so  far  from 
being  fanciful  or  fastidious,  had  foundations  as 
deep  as  any  thing  in  moral  truth  or  in  human  na- 
ture. A  sentiment  determined  their  course  ;  but  it 
was  more  cogent  than  all  the  learned  argument 
which  they  lavished  in  its  defence.  A  man  of  honor 
will  not  be  bribed  to  display  himself  in  a  fool's  cap  ; 
yet  why  not  in  a  fool's  cap  as  readily  as  in  any  ap- 
parel associated  in  his  mind,  and  in  the  minds  of 
those  whom  he  resjjects,  whether  correctly  or  not  is 
immaterial,  with  the  shame  of  mummery  and  false- 
hood ?  To  these  men  the  cope  and  surplice  seemed 
the  hvery  of  Rome.  They  would  not  put  on  the 
uniform  of  that  hated  power,  while  they  were  mar- 
shalling an  array  of  battle  against  its  ranks.  An 
officer,  French,  American,  or  English,  would  feel 
outraged  by  a  proposal  to  be  seen  in  the  garb  of  a 
foreign  service.  The  respective  wearers  of  the  white 
and  tricolor  cockades  would  be  more  willing  to  re- 
ceive each  other's  swords  into  their  bosoms  than  to 
exchange  their  decorations.  A  national  flag  is  a 
few  square  yards  of  coarse  bunting ;  but  associa- 
tions invest  it  which  touch  whatever  is  strongest 
and  deepest  in  national  character.  Its  presence 
commands  an  homage  as  reverential  as  that  which 
salutes  an  Indian  idol.  Torrents  of  blood  have 
been  poured  out  age  after  age  to  save  it  from  affront. 
The  rejection  of  the  cope  and  mitre  was  as  much 


24  THE  PILGRIM  FATHEES. 

the  fruit  and  the  sign  of  the  great  reality  of  a  reli- 
gious revolution,  as  a  political  revolution  was  beto- 
kened and  effected  when  the  cross  of  St.  George 
came  down  from  over  the  fortresses  alone;  fifteen 
degrees  of  the  North  American  coast  ""^'  in  '76. 

The  contest  which  ensued  between  nascent  Pu- 
ritanism and  the  entrenched  Conformists  Avas  pro- 
longed and  bitter.  It  deeply  scarred  the  history  of 
the  contemporaneous  actors ;  and  it  has  shaped  the 
ethics  and  the  politics  of  two  centuries;  nor  is  its 
force  yet  spent.  Indeed,  it  may  be  fitly  called  the 
ej)ic  of  our  Saxon  annals. 

"  On  the  one  side,  in  the  outset,  were  statesmen 
desiring  first  and  mainly  the  order  and  quiet  of  the 
realm.  On  the  other  side  were  religious  men  desi- 
ring that,  at  all  hazards,  God  might  be  worshipped 
in  purity  and  served  with  simplicity  and  zeal.  It 
is  easy  to  understand  the  perplexities  and  alarms 
of  the  former  class;  but  the  persistency  of  their 
opponents  is  not  therefore  to  be  accounted  whim- 
sical and  perverse.  It  is  impossible  to  blame  them 
for  saying,  '  If  a  man  believes  marriage  to  be  a  sac- 
rament in  the  sense  of  the  poj)es  and  the  councils, 
let  him  symbolize  it  by  the  giving  of  a  ring ;  if  he 
believes  in  exorcism  by  the  signing  of  the  cross,  let 
him  have  it  impressed  on  his  infant's  brow  in  baj:)- 
tism ;  if  he  believes  the  bread  of  the  Eucharist  to 
be  God,  let  him  go  down  on  his  knees  before  it. 
But  we  do  not  believe  these  things,  and  as  honest 
men  we  will  not  profess  so  to  believe  by  act  or  sign 
*  Palfi-ey,  Hist,  of  New  England,  vol.  1,  p.  113,  note. 


THE  EXODUS.  25 

any  more  than  by  word.'  Theirs  was  no  struggle 
against  the  chiirch,  but  against  the  state's  control 
over  it.  " 

The  fatal  error  of  the  church-and-state  reform- 
ers was,  that  they  strove  to  coerce  unwiUiug  con- 
sciences into  exact  conformity  with  a  prescribed 
formula  of  worship  by  penal  legislation.  No  lati- 
tude was  even  winked  at.  It  was  a  new  edition  of 
the  old  story  of  Procrustes  and  his  iron  bed.  Brit- 
ain, emancipated  from  the  pope,  still  hugged  the 
pojjedom.  The  rulers  of  the  island  clutched  the 
weapons  and  enacted  the  role  of  the  Hildebrandes, 
the  Gregorys,  and  the  Innocents  of  ecclesiastical 
history.  Dissent  was  "  rank  heresy."  Liberty  was 
"  license."  The  measure  of  a  conscience  was  the 
length  of  a  prelate's  foot. 

"  An  act  was  passed  in  1593,"  says  Hoyt,  "  for 
punishiag  all  who  refused  to  attend  the  Established 
Church,  or  frequented  conventicles  or  unauthorized 
assemblies.  The  penalty  was,  imprisonment  until 
the  convicted  person  made  declaration  of  his  con- 
formity; and  if  that  was  not  done  within  three 
months  after  arrest,  he  was  to  quit  the  realm,  and 
go  into  perpetual  banishment.  In  case  he  did  not 
depart  within  the  specified  time,  or  returned  with- 
out license,  he  was  to  suffer  deatli."t 

In  1603,  when  James  I.  came  down  from  Scot- 
land to  ascend  the  English  throne,  so  stood  the  law. 
Nor  did  it  rest  idle  in  the  statute-book.    The  parch- 

*  Palfrey,  Hist,  of  New  England,  vol.  1,  p,  114. 
f  Hoyt,  Antiquarian  Kesearches. 

Pilinm  Fathei-B,  2 


26  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

mentjiat  was  mstinct  with  vicious  life.  Hecatombs 
of  victims  suffered  under  it."  "  Toleration,"  re- 
marks Goodrich,  "  was  a  virtue  then  unknown  on 
British  ground.  In  exile  alone  was  security  found 
from  the  pains  and  penalties  of  non-conformity  to 
the  Church  of  England. "t 

During  the  pendency  of  the  dissension  between 
the  Puritans  and  the  Conformists  within  the  bosom 
of  the  church,  many  honest  thinkers,  feeling  hope- 
less of  success  in  that  unequal  conflict,  broke  from 
their  old  communion,  and  set  up  a  separate  Ebeue- 
zer.J  Even  so  early  as  1592,  Sir  Walter  Ealeigh, 
speaking  in  the  House  of  Commons,  affirmed  that 
these  "  Come-outers"  numbered  U23wards  of  twenty 
thousand. §  Since  that  date,  every  year  had  added 
new  recruits  to  their  ranks,  until,  in  1603,  they  had 
expanded  into  a  wealthy,  influential,  and. puissant 
party  in  the  state.H 

Though  socially  tabooed  and  politically  ostra- 
cised— though  shackled  by  fierce  prohibitory  legis- 
lation and  by  governmental  ill-will,  the  Separatists, 
as  they  were  called,  still  prayed  and  hoped,  walking 
through  persecution  with  faith  in  their  right  hand 
and  with  patience  in  their  left.  At  one  time  they 
thought  they  could  discern  a  ray  of  light  on  the 
sullen  horizon  which  gloomed  upon  them.     James 

*  Fuller,  Ch.  Hist.,  vol.  3.     Eymer's  Foedera,  vol.  IG,  p.  694. 

j-  Goodi-ich,  Ch.  Hist. 

J  Neale,  History  of  the  Puritans,  vol.  1.  Kushworth,  Claren- 
don, etc.  §  Parliamentary  History. 

11  Strype,  Life  of  Whitgift.  Bradshaw,  English  Puritanism, 
IfiOo. 


THE  EXODUS.  27 

I.  had  been  educated  in  Presbyterian  Scotland.* 
He  had  often  hymned  the  praises  of  the  poHty  of 
stout  John  Ivnox.t  When  he  crossed  the  Tweed, 
jubilant  Puritanism  cried,  "Amen,"  and  "All  hail." 
Ere  long,  however,  the  weak  and  treacherous  Stuart 
deserted  his  Scottish  creed.  From  that  moment  he 
hated  his  old  comrades  with  the  peculiar  bitterness 
of  an  apostate.  No  epithet  was  vile  enough  by 
which  to  paint  them.  He  raked  the  gutter  of  the 
English  language  for  phrases.  "  These  Puritans," 
said  he,  "  are  pests  in  the  church  and  common- 
wealth— greater  liars  and  perjurers  than  any  bor- 
der thieves.":}: 

At  the  Hampton  Court  Conference — an  intel- 
lectual tournament  between  the  representatives  of 
the  opposing  religious  parties — the  royal  buffoon 
affirmed  his  determination  to  make  the  Puritans 
"  conform,  or  harry  them  out  of  the  land,  or  else 
worse."§ 

It  has  been  truly  said  that  "  the  friends  of  reli- 
gious reform  had  never  seen  so  hopeless  a  time  as 
that  which  succeeded  the  period  of  the  most  san- 
guine expectation.  In  the  gloomiest  periods  of  the 
arbitrary  sway  of  the  two  daughters  of  Henry  YIIL, 
they  could  turn  their  eyes  to  a  probable  successor 
to  the  throne  who  would  be  capable  of  more  reason 
or  more  lenity.     Now  nothing  better  for  them  ap- 

*  Calderwood,  True  Hist,  of  the  Ch.  of  Scotland.  Perry,  Ch. 
Hist.,  vol.  1.  t  Il^icl- 

t  Fuller,  Ch.  Hist.,  vol.  3.     Hume,  Hist,  of  Eug.,  etc. 

§  Barlow's  Account  of  the  Hampton  Court  Conference.  A  copy 
or  it  is  in  Harvard  college  library.     Harrington,  Nugae  Antiquoe. 


28  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

peared  in  the  future  than  the  long  reign  of  a  prince 
wrong-headed  and  positive  alike  from  imbecility, 
prejudice,  pique,  and  self-conceit,  to  be  succeeded 
by  a  dynasty  born  to  the  inheritance  of  the  same 
bad  blood,  and  educated  in  the  same  perniciou, 
school.  It  is  true  that,  as  history  reveals  the  fact 
to  our  age,  almost  with  the  reign  of  the  Scottish 
alien  that  nobler  spirit  began  to  animate  the  House 
of  Commons  which  ultimately"  checkmated  tyranny 
beneath  the  scaffold  of  Charles  I.  But  this  astound- 
ing blow  was  then  remote.  "As  yet  the  steady 
reaction  from  old  abuses  was  but  dimly  apparent, 
even  to  the  most  clear-sighted  and  hopeful  minds; 
and  numbers  of  devout  and  brave  hearts  gave  way 
to  the  conviction  that,  for  such  as  they,  England 
had  ceased  for  ever  to  be  a  habitable  spot."* 

Towards  the  close  of  Elizabeth's  reign,  a  num- 
ber of  yeomen  in  the  North  of  England,  some  in 
Nottinghamshire,  some  in  Lincolnshire,  some  in 
Yorkshire,  and  the  neighborhood  of  these  counties, 
"  whose  hearts  the  Lord  had  touched  with  heav- 
enly zeal  for  his  truth,"  separated  from  the  English 
church,  "and  as  the  Lord's  free  people  joined  them- 
selves, by  a  covenant  of  the  Lord,  into  a  church 
estate  in  the  fellowship  of  the  gospel,  to  walk  in  all 
his  ways  made  known  or  to  be  made  known  unto 
them,  according  to  their  best  endeavors,  whatsoever 
it  should  cost,  the  Lord  assisting  them,  "f 

The  Protestant  world  was  at  this  time  divided 

*  Palfrej',  Hist,  of  New  England,  vol.  1,  p.  131. 

t  Bradford,  Hist,  of  the  Plymouth  Plantation,  p.  9.  • 


THE  EXODUS.  29 

between  two  regal  pliases  of  reform.  "  Lutlier's 
rationale,"  sa^-s  Bancroft,  "was  based  upon  the  sub- 
lime but  simple  truth  which  lies  at  the  bottom  of 
morals,  the  paramount  value  of  character  and  pu- 
rity of  conscience  ;  the  superiority  of  right  disposi- 
tions over  ceremonial  exactness ;  and,  as  he  ex- 
pressed it,  'justification  by  faith  alone.'  But  he 
hesitated  to  deny  the  real  presence,  and  was  indif- 
ferent to  the  observance  of  external  ceremonies. 
Calvin,  with  sterner  dialectics,  sanctioned  by  his 
power  as  the  ablest  writer  of  his  age,  attacked  the 
Komau  doctrines  respecting  the  communion,  and 
esteemed  as  a  commemoration  the  rite  which  the 
papists  reverenced  as  a  sacrifice.  Luther  acknowl- 
edged princes  as  his  protectors,  and  in  the  ceremo- 
nies of  worship  favored  magnificence  as  an  aid  to 
devotion ;  Calvin  was  the  guide  of  Swiss  republics, 
and  avoided  in  their  churches  all  appeals  to  the 
senses  as  crimes  against  religion.  Luther  resisted 
the  Roman  church  for  its  immorality  ;  Calvin  for  its 
idolatry.  Luther  exposed  the  folly  of  sui^erstition, 
ridiculed  the  hair-shirt  and  the  scourge,  the  pur- 
chased indulgence,  and  the  dearly-bought  masses 
for  the  dead ;  Calvin  shrunk  from  their  criminality 
with  impatient  horror.  Luther  permitted  the  cross, 
the  taper,  pictures,  images,  as  things  of  indifference ; 
Calvin  demanded  a  spiritual  worship  in  its  utmost 
purity."* 

The  Separatists  were  ardent  Calviuists.     They 
esteemed  the  "  offices  and  callings,  courts  and  cau- 
*  Bancroft,  Hist.  United  States,  vol.  1,  pp.  277,  278. 


33  THE   PILGEIM  FATHERS. 

ons"  of  the  English  church  "monuments  of  idol-       ' 
atrj."      Those  of  the  North   of  England,  though        ; 
"  presently  they  were  scoffed  and  scorned  by  the        : 
profane  multitude,  and  their  ministers  urged  with 
the  yoke  of  subscription,"  yet  held  "  that  the  lordly 
power  of  the  prelates  ought  not  to  be  submitted  to."* 

In  this  northern  church  was  "Mr.  Eichard  Clif- 
ton, a  grave  and  revered  preacher,  who  by  his  pains 
and  diligence  had  done  much  good,  and  under  God 
had  been  the  means  of  the  conversion  of  many ; 
also  that  famous  and  worthy  man,  Mr.  John  Rob-        j 
inson,  who  afterwards  was  their  pastor  for  many         | 
years,  till  God  called  him  away  by  death  ;  and  Mr.         ' 
William  Brewster,  a  reverent  man,  who  afterwards 
was  chosen  elder  of  the  church,  and  lived  with  them 
till  old  age."t 

In  the  year  1607  these  reformers  seem  to  have        j 
received  the  vindictive  attention  of  the  government,        I 
for  Bradford  makes  this  record:  "After  that  they 
could  not  long  continue  in  any  peaceable  condition,        i 
but  were  hunted    and   persecuted    on  every  side.         ' 
Some  were  taken  and  clapped  up  in  prison.   Others 
had  their  houses  beset  and  watched  night  and  day.         i 
The  most  were  fain  to  fly  and  leave  their  houses 
and  goods,  and  the  means  of  their  livelihood.     Yet        ' 
these  things,  and  many  more  still  sharper,  which 
afterwards  befell  them,  \v^ere  no  other  than  they        i 
looked  for,  and  therefore  they  were  better  able  to 
bear  them  by  the  assistance  of  God's  grace  and 

•  Bradford,  Hist.  Pljonouth  Plantation. 

f  Ibid.,  Morton's  Memorial,  Founders  of  New  Plymouth,  etc. 


THE  EXODUS.  31 

spirit.  Nevertheless,  seeing  themselves  thus  mo- 
lested, and  that  there  was  no  hope  of  peace  at  home, 
by  joint  consent  they  resolved  to  go  into  the  Low 
Countries,  where,  they  heard,  was  fi-eedoni  for  all 
men ;  as  also  how  sundry  from  London  and  various 
parts  had  been  persecuted  into  exile  aforetime,  and 
were  gone  thither,  sojourning  at  Amsterdam  and  in 
other  cities.  So,  after  they  had  continued  together 
about  a  year,  and  kept  their  meetings  every  sab- 
bath in  one  place  and  another,  exercising  the  wor- 
ship of  God  despite  the  diligence  and  malice  of  their 
adversaries,  seeing  that  they  could  no  longer  con- 
tinue in  that  condition,  they  prepared  to  pass  over 
into  Holland  as  they  could."* 

The  Pilgrims  were  preeminently  men  of  action. 
They  were  not  dreamy  speculators ;  they  were  not 
dilettanti  idealists.  They  never  let  "I  dare  not"  wait 
upon  "  I  would."  With  them  decision  was  impera- 
tive, and  meant  action.  They  had  dropped  two 
words  from  their  vocabulary — doubt  and  hesita- 
tion. Instantly  they  prepared  for  exile;  and  the}^ 
accepted  it  as  serenely  when  conscience  beckoned 
that  way  with  her  imperious  finger,  as  their  descend- 
ants would  an  invitation  to  attend  a  halcj^on  gala. 

Still,  in  the  very  outset  they  met  obstacles  which 
would  have  unnerved  less  resolute  men.  But  the 
heart  of  their  purpose  was  not  to  be  broken.  In 
1607,t  the  Pilgrims  made  an  effort  to  quit  the  shores 

*  Bradford,  Hist.  Plymouth  Plantation,  j^p.  10,  11.  See  also 
Neal's  Hist,  of  New  England,  vol.  1,  p.  76. 

f  Some  authorities  say  1602.  Newell,  for  instance,  p.  348, 
citing  the  British  Quarterly  Review.    But  so  competent  an  author- 


32  THE  PILGEIM  FATHERS. 

of  this  inhospitable  country.  They  had  appointed 
Boston,  in  Lincolnshire,  the  rendezvous,  and  a  con- 
tract had  been  made  with  an  English  captain  to 
convey  their  persons  and  their  goods  to  Amsterdam. 
The  Pilgrims  were  punctual ;  the  seaman  was  not. 
Finally,  however,  he  appeared.  The  eager  fugitives 
were  shipped ;  but  they  were  taken  aboard  only  to 
be  betrayed.  The  recreant  master  had  plotted  with 
the  authorities  to  entrap  the  victims.  The  unhappy 
Pilgrims  were  taken  ashore  again  in  ojDen  boats, 
and  there  the  officers  "rifled  and  ransacked  them, 
searching  them  to  their  shirts  for  money."*  Even 
the  women  were  treated  with  rude  immodesty.f 
After  this  thievish  official  raid,  they  were  "  carried 
back  into  the  town  and  made  a  spectacle  and  won- 
der to  the  multitude,  which  came  flocking  on  all 
sides  to  behold  them.  Being  thus  first,  by  the  catch- 
pole  officers,  rifled  and  stripped  of  their  money, 
books,  and  much  other  goods,  they  were  presented 
to  the  magistrates,  and  messengers  were  sent  to  in- 
form the  lords  of  the  council  of  the  matter;  mean- 
time they  were  committed  to  ward.  The  magis- 
trates used  the  Pilgrims  courteously,  and  showed 
them  what  kindness  and  favor  they  could  ;  but  they 
were  not  able  to  deliver  the  prisoners  till  order 
came  from  the  council-table.  The  issue  was,  that 
after  a  month's  imprisonment,  the  greater  part  were 
dismissed,  and  sent  to  the  places  from  which  they 

ity  as  Bradford  gives  the  date  in  tlie  text.   See  also  Young's  Chroni- 
cles, etc.  *  Bradford,  p.  12. 
t  Ibid.     Young's  Chronicles  of  the  Pilgrims. 


THE  EXODUS.  33 

came;  but  seven  of  their  chiefs  were  still  left  in 
prison  and  bound  over  to  the  next  assizes."* 

In  the  spring  of  1608,  these  same  indomitable 
Pilgrims,  together  with  some  others,  resolved  to 
make  another  effort  to  quit  the  house  of  bondage. 
Dryden  says  that 

' '  Only  idiots  may  be  cozened  twice. " 

This  time  they  made  a  compact  wdth  a  Dutch  cap- 
tain at  Hull — they  would  not  trust  an  EngHshman.f 
The  plan  now  was,  that  the  men  should  assemble 
on  a  wild  common,  between  Grimsby  and  Hull,  a 
place  chosen  on  account  of  its  remoteness  from  any 
town;  the  women,  the  children,  and  the  property  of 
the  exiles  were  to  be  conveyed  to  that  part  of  the 
coast  in  a  barque.  The  men  made  their  way  thither, 
in  small  comjjanies,  by  land.  The  barque  reached 
its  destination  a  day  sooner  than  the  foot  travel- 
lers; it  was  also  some  hours  ahead  of  the  ship.| 
As  the  short,  chop-sea  of  the  channel  caused  the 
passengers  in  the  barque  to  suffer  acutely  from  sea- 
sickness, the  sailors  ran  into  a  small  creek  for  shel- 
ter. Here  the  night  was  passed.  How  comfortless! 
The  deep  roar  of  the  sullen  breakers  smote  heavily 
upon  their  ears;  and  while  the  chill  winds  swept 
over  them,  the  ceaseless  pulsing  of  the  sea  and  the 
hollow  moaning  of  the  waves  at  midnight,  for  the 
sea  continued  rough,  deepened  the  melancholy  feel- 
ings which  could  not  but  agitate  their  breasts.     So 

o  Bradford,  p.  12. 

t  Stougbton,  Spiritual  Heroes,  p.  72. 
t  British  Quarterly  Keview,  vol.  l,p.  15. 

2* 


34  THE  PILGRIM  FATHEES. 

liudclled  on  the  weird,  strange  shore,  they  counted 
the  hours  till  dawn.* 

In  the  morning  the  longed-for  ship  arrived ;  but 
through  some  negligence  of  the  sailors,  the  vessel 
containing  the  women,  their  little  ones,  and  the 
property,  had  run  aground.  The  men  stood  in 
groups  on  the  shore;  and  that  no  time  might  be 
lost,  the  captain  sent  his  boat  to  convey  some  of 
them  on  board,  while  a  squad  of  sailors  were  detailed 
to  help  get  the  grounded  barque  once  more  afloat. 
But  alack,  by  this  time  so  considerable  a  gather- 
ing in  such  a  place,  and  at  an  hour  so  unusual, 
had  attracted  attention;  information  was  conveyed 
to  the  neighboring  authorities;  and  as  the  boat 
which  had  already  taken  the  great  part  of  the  men 
to  the  ship,  was  again  returning  to  the  shore,  the 
caj)tain  espied  a  large  company,  some  on  horse- 
back, some  afoot,  but  all  armed,  advancing  towards 
the  spot  where  the  hapless  barque  still  lay  aground 
with  the  few  remaining  men  grouped  about  it. 
Alarmed,  the  mariner  put  back  to  his  vessel,  swore 
by  the  sacrament  that  he  would  not  stay,  and  deaf 
to  the  importunities  of  his  sad  passengers,  he  spread 
his  sails,  weighed  anchor,  and  was  soon  out  of  sight.f 

"We  may  imagine  with  what  aching  hearts  the 
poor  exiles  in  the  ship  looked  towards  the  receding 
shore,  to  their  disconsolate  companions,  and  to  their 
precious  wives  and  children,  who  stood  there  "cry- 
ing for  fear  and  quaking  with  cold."   Those  on  board 

c  Stoughton,  Young,  Bancroft. 

t  Young's  Chronicles,  Stoughton,  Bradford,  etc. 


THE  EXODUS.  35 

the  ship  had  uo  property,  not  even  a  change  of  rai- 
ment ;  and  they  had  scarcely  a  penny  in  their  pock- 
ets. But  the  loss  of  their  possessions  was  as  nothing 
to  the  cruel  stroke  which  had  severed  them  from 
those  they  best  loved  on  earth." 

"  Eobinson — honest  and  able  general  as  he  was 
in  every  sense — had  resolved  to  be  the  last  to  em- 
bark. He  was  therefore  a  witness  of  the  scene  of 
distress  and  agony  which  ensued  on  the  departure 
of  the  ship.  The  outburst  of  grief  was  not  to  be 
restrained.  Some  of  the  women  wept  aloud;  others 
felt  too  deeply,  were  too  much  bewildered,  to  in- 
dulge in  utterance  of  any  kind;  while  the  children, 
partly  from  seeing  what  had  happened,  and  partly 
from  a  vague  impression  that  something  dreadful 
had  come,  mingled  their  sobs  and  cries  in  the  gen- 
eral lamentation.  As  the  sail  of  the  ship  faded  away 
upon  the  distant  waters,  the  wives  felt  as  if  one 
stroke  had  reduced  them  all  to  widowhood,  and 
every  child  that  had  reached  years  of  consciousness 
felt  as  one  who  in  a  moment  had  become  fatherless. 
But  thus  dark  are  the  chapters  in  human  aft'airs  in 
which  the  good  have  often  to  become  students,  and 
from  which  they  have  commonly  had  to  learn  their 
special  lessons."t 

On  the  approach  of  the  officers  some  of  the  men 
escaped,  others  remained  to  assist  the  helpless. 
These  were  apprehended  and  "  conveyed  from  con- 
stable to  constable,  till  their  persecutors  were  weary 

<*  Stoughton. 

t  British  Quarterly  Keview,  vol.  1,  p.  15. 


36  THE  PILGKIM  FATHEES. 

of  so  large  a  number  of  captives  and  permitted  them 
to  go  their  way."* 

•  As  to  the  voyagers,  the  very  elements  seemed 
to  vrar  against  them.  They  soon  encountered  foul 
weather,  and  were  driven  far  along  the  coast  of  Nor- 
way ;  "  nor  sun,  nor  moon,  nor  stars,  for  many  days 
appeared."  Once  they  gave  up  all  for  lost,  think- 
ing the  ship  had  foundered.  "  But  when,"  says  a 
writer  who  was  himself  on  board,  "man's  hope  and 
help  w^holly  failed,  the  Lord's  power  and  mercy  ap- 
peared for  their  recovery,  for  the  ship  rose  again, 
and  gave  the  mariners  courage  once  more  to  man- 
age her.  While  the  waters  ran  into  their  very  ears 
and  mouths,  and  all  cried  'TVe  sink!  we  sink  !'  they 
also  said,  if  not  with  miraculous,  yet  with  a  great 
height  of  divine  faith,  '  Yet,  Lord,  thou  canst  save ! 
yet.  Lord,  thou  canst  save  !'  And  He  who  holds  the 
winds  in  his  fist,  and  the  waters  in  the  hollow  of 
his  hand,  did  hear  and  save  them."t 

Eventually  the  storm-tossed  ship  dropped  anchor 
in  Amsterdam  harbor;  and  "in  the  end,"  says 
Young,  "notwithstanding  all  these  tortures,  the  Pil- 
grims all  got  over,  some  at  one  time  and  some  at 
another,  and  met  together  again,  according  to  their 
desire,  with  no  small  rejoicing. ":|: 

*  Stoughton,  p.  74. 

t  Young,  cited  in  Stoughton,  p.  74. 

X  Young's  Chronicles,  p.  29. 


THE  HALT.  37 


CHAPTEK   II. 

THE   HALT. 

"Weep  ye  not  for  the  dead,  neither  bemoan  him  ;  but  weep 
sore  for  him  that  goeth  away :  for  he  shall  return  no  more,  nor 
see  his  native  country."    Jer.  22  :  10. 

When  the  Pilgrims  stepped  from  the  deck  of 
their  vessel  upon  the  quays  of  Amsterdam,  they 
felt  that  sad,  aching  sense  of  utter  desolation  which 
always  smites  exiled  hearts  in  a  strange  country. 
But  there  was  much  about  Amsterdam  which  tended 
to  increase  this  natural  homesickness,  and  to  make 
the  blood  pulse  still  more  coldly  through  their  veins. 
Every  thing  was  novel ;  the  manners,  the  costume, 
the  architecture,  the  language  of  the  people.  Their 
first  steps  were  involved  in  an  apparently  inextrica- 
ble maze ;  they  were  confounded  by  the  bewilder- 
ing confusion  of  land  and  water.  Canals,  crawled 
with  their  sluggish  water,  before  them  and  behind 
them,  to  the  right  and  to  the  left.  Indeed,  the  town 
was  so  much  interwoven  with  havens,  that  the  oozy 
ground  was  cut  up  into  ninety-five  islands  or  de- 
tached blocks,  connected  with  each  other  by  two 
hundred  and  ninety  fantastic  bridges.  The  princi-^ 
pal  havens,  called  grachts,  were  from  a  hundred  to 
a  hundred  and  forty  feet  wide,  and  extended  in 
semicircular  curves  one  after  the  other  through  the 
Lown. 


38  THE  PILGKIM  FATHEBS. 

In  order  to  reach  the  interior  of  the  city,  it  was 
necessary  to  cross  a  number  of  these  broad  har- 
bors ;  and  in  making  the  necessary  deflections  in 
passing  from  gracht  to  gracht,  all  recollection  of 
the  points  of  the  compass  vanished  from  the  minds 
of  the  bewildered  Englishmen,  so  that  they  received 
the  impression  that  they  were  wandering  in  a  laby- 
rinth from  which  it  was  impossible  to  escape  by 
their  own  unaided  efforts. 

The  houses  were  built  of  brick,  and  were  gener- 
ally four  or  five  stories  high,  with  fantastic,  pointed 
gables  in  front.  Some  of  them  were  elegantly  con- 
structed ;  but  the  larger  number  of  the  citizens 
seemed  desirous  of  making  their  dwellings  look  as 
like  warehouses  as  possible.  Almost  every  house 
had  a  piece  of  timber  projecting  from  the  wall  over 
the  uppermost  window  in  the  gable,  and  this  was 
used  for  hauling  up  fuel  or  furniture  to  the  top 
stor}^  All  the  residences  were  erected  upon  piles 
of  wood  driven  into  the  soft,  marshy  ground ;  but 
so  insufficient  was  this  precaution  in  giving  stabil- 
ity, that  many  of  the  buildings  leaned  considerably 
from  the  perpendicular,  and  seemed  as  if  about  to 
topple  over  into  the  street  or  splai-h  out  of  sight 
through  the  mud.  The  roadway  between  the 
houses  and  the  water  was  so  narrow,  that  in  some 
,of  the  finest  streets  a  coach  could  not  conveniently 
turn  round. 

Such  were  some  of  the  strange  sights  which 
greeted  the  wondering  eyes  of  the  Pilgrims  as  they 
hurriedly  trod,  on  the  day  of  their  arrival,  from  the 


THE  HALT.  39 

quay  where  they  had  landed,  mto  the  interior  of 
the  quaint  old  town  in  search  of  lodgings. 

A  brief  residence  sufficed  to  familiarize  the  ex- 
iles with  the  peculiarities  of  the  city.  They  soon 
discovered  that  Amsterdam  stood  uj)on  the  south- 
ern bank  of  the  Ai,  a  neck  of  the  sea  which  pos- 
sessed the  appearance  of  a  navigable  frith.  They 
examined  the  quays  and  j)iers  which  rose  sheer  out 
of  the  water,  so  as  to  afford  the  greatest  facility  for 
the  shipment  of  goods  from  the  abounding  ware- 
houses. They  wondered  at  the  peculiar  form  of  the 
town,  which  Avas  semicircular,  with  its  straight  side 
on  the  Ai,  while  the  bow  swept  several  miles  in- 
land. The  canals  were  fed  by  the  river  Amstel, 
from  which  the  town  was  named.  An  immense 
exterior  belt  of  water,  which  the  Dutch  termed 
"the  cingel,"  pursued  a  zig-zag  line  round  the 
sites  of  ancient  bastions,  which  were  then  crowned 
with  windmills,  whose  long  arms  and  tireless  fin- 
gers were  incessantly  employed  in  snatching  up 
the  ever-encroaching  water,  and  casting  it  far  out 
into  the  sea. 

From  the  condition  of  a  fishing-village  on  the 
Amstel,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  Amsterdam  had 
risen,  under  the  fostering  privileges  of  the  counts 
of  Flanders,  to  be  a  commercial  town  of  some  im- 
portance even  in  the  fourteenth  century.  The 
establishment  of  the  Dutch  independence  so  greatly 
accelerated  its  prosperity,  that  in  the  beginning  of 
the  seventeenth  century  it  had  attained  the  first 
rank  as  a  maritime  city.     Antwerp,  the  old  El  Do- 


40  THE  PILGRIM  FATHEES. 

rado,  was  eclipsed.  Amsterdam  became  the  entre- 
pot of  commerce ;  ships  visited  it  from  all  nations  ; 
its  merchants  were  famed  for  their  honesty  and 
friigalit}^;  and  its  great  bank  enabled  it  to  take  the 
lead  in  the  pecuniary  concerns  of  Europe.  The 
city  was  inhabited  by  a  quarter  of  a  million  of 
souls ;  and  seated  in  its  swamp,  it  was  the  freest 
town  in  the  world.  It  was  a  city  of  refuge  to  the 
oppressed  of  aU  nations ;  and  therein,  perhaps,  lay 
the  secret  of  its  wonderful  prosperity. 

Amsterdam  was  the  Venice  of  the  Netherlands 
It  was  literally  a  spot  which  had  been  Avrung  from 
the  grasp  of  the  unwilling  and  ever-protesting  sea, 
A  perpetual  Waterloo  conflict  was  waged  between 
the  persistent  Hollander  and  old  Neptune  for  the 
possession  of  the  soil  which  man's  skill  had  usurp- 
ed. The  city,  and  indeed  the  Netherlands  at  large, 
formed  the  "  debatable  ground"  of  this  unique  strug- 
gle between  humanity  and  the  elements.  The  whole 
country  was  a  morass,  whose  buildings  were  con- 
structed on  huge  piles;  and  it  was  this  that  gave 
rise  to  the  saying  of  Erasmus,  that  "  multitudes  of 
his  countrymen  were  like  birds,  living  on  the  tops 
of  trees."  Across  the  forehead  of  the  Netherlands 
brains  and  persistence  had  written  their  motto, 
"  Labor  omnia  vincit."" 


*  The  facts  in  the  above  description  of  Amsterdam  are  taken 
from  Motley's  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic,  from  various  accounts 
of  travels  in  the  Low  Countries,  and  particiilarly  from  the  very 
interesting  and  instructive  "  Tour "  of  W.  Chambers.  Lon- 
don, 1837. 


THE  HALT.  41 

Sucli  was  the  city  in  wliicli  the  Pilgrims  now 
found  themselves  domesticated.  In  some  things 
they  found  it  easy  to  assimilate  with  their  new 
neighbors  :  a  common  faith  was  one  strong  bond 
of  union  ;  a  passion  for  liberty  was  another.  But 
there  were  not  lacking  strong  points  of  dissimilar- 
ity. The  Pilgrims  were  orderly  and  staid ;  yet  they 
never  could  reconcile  themselves  to  that  spirit  of 
system,  or  precise,  long-authorized  method,  which 
formed  one  of  the  most  remarkable  traits  in  the 
manners  of  the  Dutch.  In  all  departments  of  their 
social  economy  they  seemed  to  act  upon  established 
rules,  from  which  it  was  esteemed  a  species  of  her- 
esy to  depart.  There  were  rules  for  visiting,  for 
sending  complimentary  messages,  for  making  do- 
mestic announcements,  for  bestowing  alms,  for  out- 
of-door  recreations — every  thing  was  required  to 
be  done  in  a  certain  way,  and  no  other  way  was 
right.     Society  was  an  incarnate  rule. 

Another  thing  which  puzzled  the  Pilgrims  Was, 
that  in  their  various  walks  they  observed  that  every 
house  was  provided  with  one  or  more  mirrors  in 
frames,  fastened  by  wire  rods  on  the  outsides  of  the 
windows,  and  at  such  an  angle  as  to  command  a 
complete  view  both  of  the  doorway  and  of  all  that 
passed  in  the  street.  They  afterwards  found  that 
these  looking-glasses  Avere  universal  in  Holland, 
and  were  the  solace  of  the  ladies  while  following 
their  domestic  avocations. 

But  the  exiles  were  too  grateful  for  toleration 
to  be  hypercritical.     "  They  knew  that  they  were 


42  THE  PILGKIM  FATHEKS. 

Pilgrims,  and  looked  not  much  on  these  things,  but 
lifted  up  their  eyes  to  heaven,  their  dearest  coun- 
try, and  quieted  their  spirits."*  They  spent  no 
time  in  idleness,  but  with  stout  hearts  went  to  work. 
They  had  been  bred  to  agricultural  pursuits ;  but 
in  Holland  they  were  obliged  to  learn  mechanical 
trades.  Brewster  became  a  printer;]-  Bradford 
learned  the  art  of  dyeing  silk.:]:  Some  learned  to 
weave,  and  found  employment  in  the  cloth  guilds 
and  at  the  looms.  But  though  grim  poverty  often 
pinched  them,  and  their  temporal  circumstances 
were  never  very  prosperous,  they  yet  praised  God 
for  what  they  had;  and  exile  and  the  bond  of  a 
common  misfortune  knit  their  hearts  close  together, 
so  that  their  spiritual  enjoyment  in  each  other's 
society  was  precious  and  full.§ 

Amsterdam  was  not  altogether  a  city  of  stran- 
gers. There  were  some  there  already,  who,  like 
themselves,  had  left  their  native  island  for  con- 
science' sake.]!  But  though  the}^  had  formed  a 
church,  its  vitals  were  torn  by  fierce  dissension. 
The  feud  blazed  when  Eobinson  and  his  friends 
reached  Holland;  since  nothing  could  placate  the 
resentment  of  the  hostile  parties,  the  Pilgrims, 
fearful  of  the  baleful  effect  of  the  quarrel  upon 
themselves,    decided,    after    a    sojourn    of    twelve 


*  Bancroft,  Hist.  United  States,  vol.  1,  p.  303. 
f  Ibid.     Bradford,  Young,  Stonghton,  etc. 
X  Bradford,  Hist.  Plymoutli  Plantation. 
§  Stoughton,  p.  82.     Young's  Chronicles. 
II  Morton's  Memorial,  Prince,  Bradford. 


THE  HALT.  '  43 

montlis,  to  remove  fi-om  Amsterdam  to  the  neigh- 
boring city  of  Leyden." 

"  While  Amsterdam  was  rising  into  mercantile 
wealth,  Lej'den  "was  acquiring  literary  reputation. 
B}'  a  singular  but  honorable  jDreference,  the  citi- 
zens, on  being  offered  by  "William  the  Silent,  in 
1575,  as  a  reward  for  their  valor  during  the  famous 
siege,  either  a  remission  of  taxes  or  the  foundation 
of  a  university,  at  once  chose  the  university.  The 
city  had  obtained  the  appellation  of  the  Athens  of 
the  West.  But  with  its  scholastic  cloisters  it  com- 
bined busy  manufactures:  while  in  one  street  the 
student  was  engaged  with  his  books,  in  another  the 
w^eaver  was  seated  at  his  loom.  But  all  breathed 
quietude  and  liberty;  and  it  is  difficult  to  imagine 
a  more  inviting  home  than  that  which  Leyden  pre- 
sented to  these  w'eary,  sore-footed  Pilgrims  as  they 
trod  along  the  pleasant  road  from  Amsterdam, 
'  seeking  peace  above  all  other  riches.' 

"  If  the  history  of  the  city  they  had  left  was  cal- 
culated to  stimulate  them  to  industry,  the  storj-  of 
the  town  they  were  entering  was  adajDted  to  kee-p 
alive  their  love  of  liberty.  Traces  might  still  be 
seen  of  the  effects  of  the  heroic  deed  performed  by 
the  citizens  of  Leyden,  when,  contending  for  their 
freedom,  they  preferred  to  inundate  their  city  and 
give  it  to  the  sea,  rather  than  submit  to  the  cruel 
tyranny  of  Spain."! 

Here,  as  before  at  Amsterdam,  they  fell  to  Avork. 

«  Bradford,  Cotton  Mather,  etc. 
t  Stoughton,  p.  82. 


41  THE  PILGEIM  FATHERS. 

"  Being  now  pitched,"  says  Bradford,  "  they  fell  to 
such  trades  and  emplo3'ments  as  they  best  could, 
valuing  peace  and  their  spiritual  comfort  above 
any  other  riches  whatsoever;  and  at  length  they 
came  to  raise  a  competent  and  decent  living,  but 
with  hard  and  continual  labor."* 

In  Leyden  the  Pilgrims  remained  for  many 
years,  "  enjoying  much  sweet  society  and  spiritual 
comfort  together  in  the  ways  of  God,  under  the  able 
and  prudent  government  of  Mr.  John  Bobinson. 
Yea,  such  was  the  mutual  love  and  respect  which 
this  worthy  man  had  to  his  flock  and  his  flock  to 
him,  that  it  might  be  said  of  them,  as  it  once  was 
of  the  famous  emperor  Marcus  Aureliust  and  the 
people  of  Rome,  that  it  was  hard  to  judge  whether 
he  delighted  more  in  having  such  a  people,  or  they 
in  having  such  a  pastor.  His  love  was  great  tow- 
ards them,  and  his  care  was  always  bent  for  their 
best  good,  both  for  soul  and  body ;  for  besides  his 
singular  ability  in  divine  things — wherein  he  ex- 
celled— he  was  very  able  to  give  direction  in  civil 
affairs,  and  to  foresee  dangers  and  inconveniences ; 
by  which  means  he  was  very  helpful  to  the  outward 
estates  of  the  exiles,  and  so  was  in  every  way  a 
common  father  to  them. "I 

Mr.  William  Brewster  Avas  Robinson's  assistant, 
and  "he  was  now  called  and  chosen  by  the  church" 

*  Bradford,  Hist.  Plymouth  Plantation,  p.  17. 
t  Golden  Book  of  Marcus  Aurelius  ;  first  printed  in  English  in 
1534.     Debley's  Typog.  Antiq.,  vol.  3,  p.  289. 
X  Bradford,  pp.  17,  18. 


THE  HALT.  46 

to  fill  the  place  of  elder.*  The  Pilgrims  "  grew  in 
knowledge  and  gifts  and  other  graces  of  the  Spirit 
of  God,  and  lived  together  in  peace  and  love  and 
holiness;  and  as  many  came  unto  them  from  divers 
parts  of  England,  they  grew  to  be  a  great  congre- 
gation. If  at  any  time  differences  arose  or  offences 
broke  out — as  it  cannot  be  but  sometimes  there 
will,  even  among  the  best  of  men — they  were  ever 
so  met  with  and  nipped  in  the  bud  betimes,  or  oth- 
erwise so  well  compassed,  as  still  love,  peace,  and 
communion,  were  preserved;  or  else  the  church  was 
purged  of  those  that  were  incorrigible,  when,  after 
much  patience  used,  no  other  means  would  serve — 
which  seldom  came  to  pass."t 

Though  strict  in  their  discipline  and  strongly 
attached  to  their  distinctive  principles,  the  Leyden 
exiles  were  far  from  being  bigots.  Hobinson, 
though,  in  Cotton  Mather's  phrase,  "  he  had  been 
in  his  younger  time — as  very  good  fruit  hath  some- 
times been,  ere  age  hath  ripened  it — soured  by  the 
principles  of  rigid  separation, "|  was  now  developed 
into  a  man  of  large-hearted  benevolence  and  en- 
lightened catholicity.  Over  his  flock  he  breathed 
this  heavenly  spirit.  Nothing  more  offended  him 
than  the  conduct  of  those  "  Avho  cleaved  unto  them- 
selves, and  retired  from  the  common  good."§  Noth- 
ing more  provoked  him  than  to  witness  undue  rigid- 

o  Bradford,  pp.  17,  18.     Young,  etc. 
t  Bradford,  pp.  17,  18. 
X  Cotton  i\Iather's  Magnalia,  vol.  1,  p.  47. 
§  Bradford,  p.  18.     Stoughton. 


46  THE  PILGEIM  FATHERS. 

ity  in  the  enforcement  of  subordinate  matters,  espe- 
cially when  sternness  on  points  of  outward  order 
was  associated,  as  is  often  the  case,  with  laxity  in 
the  critics.  Kobinson  knew  how  to  estimate  "  the 
tithe  of  mint  and  anise  and  cummin"  in  their  rela- 
tive value  to  the  weightier  matters  of  the  law. 
Schism  he  condemned ;  division  he  deplored.  From 
the  government  and  ceremonies  of  the  English 
Establishment  his  conscience  compelled  him  to  dis- 
sent, but  ho  was  prepared  to  welcome  the  disciples 
of  that  and  of  all  other  Christian  communions  to 
the  fellowship  of  the  Lord's  table.  "  Our  faith," 
said  he,  "  is  not  negative ;  nor  does  it  consist  in  the 
condemnation  of  others,  and  wiping  their  names  out 
of  the  bead-roll  of  churches,  but  in  the  edification 
of  ourselves.  Neither  require  we  of  any  of  ours,  in 
the  confession  of  their  faults,  that  they  renounce  or 
in  any  one  word  contest  with  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land."* 

It  is  not  strange  that  such  a  teacher  should  have 
won  the  reverent  regard  of  his  Pilgrim  flock.  They 
could  not  fail  to  hold  him  "  in  precious  estimation, 
as  his  worth  and  wisdom  did  deserve."  And 
"  though  they  esteemed  him  highly  while  he  lived 
and  labored  among  them,"  says  Bradford,  "yet 
much  more  after  his  death, t  when  they  came  to 
feel  the  want  of  his  help,  and  saw,  by  woful  exjoe- 
rience,  what  a  treasure  they  had  lost;  yea,  such  a 
loss  as  they  saw  could  not  be  repaired,  for  it  was 

«  Cited  in  Stoughtou,  p.  84. 

f  Eobinson  died  at  Lej'den,  March  1,  1864-5. 


THE  HALT.  47 

as  hard  for  tliem  to  find  such  another  leader  and 
feeder  in  all  respects,  as  for  the  Taborites  to  find 
another  Ziska.*  And  though  they  did  not,  like  tlie 
Bohemians,  call  themselves  orphans  after  his  death, 
yet  they  had  as  much  cause  to  lament  their  present 
condition  and  after-usage."t 

Characterized  by  so  much  unity,  peacefulness, 
consistency,  and  true-hearted  love,  the  Pilgrims 
could  not  fail  to  Aviu  the  sincere  respect  of  the  Ley- 
den  citizens.  Though  most  of  them  were  poor,  yet 
there  were  none  so  poor  but  if  they  were  known  to 
be  of  the  English  congregation,  the  Dutch  trades- 
men would  trust  them  in  any  reasonable  amount 
when  they  lacked  money,  and  this  because  they 
had  found  by  experience  how  careful  they  were  to 
keep  their  word,  while  they  saw  them  painful  and 
diligent  in  their  respective  callings.  The  Leyden 
merchants  even  strove  to  get  their  custom ;  and 
when  they  required  aid,  employed  the  honest  stran- 
gers and  paid  them  above  others.:]: 

The  city  magistrates  testified  to  the  sobriety 
and  peacefulness  of  their  guests  on  the  eve  of  their 
departure  from  Holland.  "  These  English,"  said 
they,  in  reproving  the  exiled  Walloons§  who  were 

*  For  an  interesting  account  of  Ziska,  or  Zisca,  the  blind 
Hussite  leader  of  the  Bohemian  insurgents,  who  was  never  de- 
feated, see  Mosheim's  Eccles.  Hist.,  cent.  XV.,  Hallam's  Hist,  of 
the  Middle  Ages,  vol.  1,  p.  463,  or  the  Eucyclopfedia  Americana, 
article  "Zisca." 

t  Bradford,  pp.  18,  19.  1  Ibid.,  pp.  19,  20. 

§  The  Walloons  inhabited  the  southern  Belgic  provinces  bor- 
dering on  France.    As  they  spoke  the  French  language,  ' '  they  were 


48  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEES. 

attached  to  the  French  refugee  church,  "have  lived 
among  us  now  these  twelve  years,  and  yet  we  never 
had  any  suit  or  action  against  any  one  of  them  ; 
but  your  strifes  a'ud  quarrels  are  continual."* 

The  reputation  of  their  pastor  for  sanctity  and 
learning  no  doubt  tended  to  raise  the  respectability 
of  the  English  church  in  the  estimation  of  the 
Dutch. 

Circum.stances  afforded  him  ample  scope  for  the 
display  of  his  talents.  A  heated  discussion  between 
the  Arminians  and  the  Calvinists  raged  in  Leyden 
during  his  residence  in  the  cit}^  and  in  that  far- 
famed  controversy  the  great  English  divine  was 
finally  persuaded  to  take  part.f 

In  the  schools  there  were  daily  and  hot  disputes. 
Scholars  were  divided  in  opinion.  The  two  profes- 
sors or  divinity  readers  of  the  Leyden  university 
were  themselves  ranged  on  opposite  sides ;  one  of 
them,  Episcopius,  teaching  the  Arminian  tenets; 
the  other,  Polyander,  proclaiming  the  Calvinistic 

creed4 

Bobinson,  though  he  taught  thrice  a  week,  be- 
sides writing  sundry  pamphlets,§  went  daily  to  listen 

called  Gallois,  which  was  changed,  in  Low  Dutch,  into  Waalsche, 
and  in  English  into  Walloon."  Many  of  them  were  Protestants, 
and  being  subject  to  relentless  persecution  by  the  Spanish  gov- 
ernment, they  emigi-ated  in  great  numbers  into  Holland,  carrying 
with  them  a  knowledge  of  the  industrial  arts.  See  Bradford's 
Hist.  Plym.  Plantation,  p.  20,  note. 

=-■  Bradford,  p.  20.  Stoiighton,  Young,  Ashton's  Life  of  Rob- 
inson, t  Stoughton,  p.  85. 

X  Bradford,  Young,  Neal,  Mather,  etc. 

^  A  collection  of  the  "Works  of  John  Robinson  was  printed  in 


THE  HALT.  49 

to  the  disputations,  hearing  first  one  side,  then  the 
other.  In  this  way  he  became  thoroughly  grounded 
in  the  controversy,  saw  the  force  of  the  opposing 
'arguments,  and  became  familiar  with  the  shifts  of 
the  inimical  disputants.  Some  sermons  which  he 
delivered  in  the  English  church  on  the  contested 
issues  attracted  public  attention.  Episcopius  had 
just  published  certain  theses  which  he  had  afiirmed 
that  he  was  prepared  to  maintain  against  all  oppo- 
nents. Polyander  and  the  chief  preachers  of  the 
city  waited  upon  Robinson,  and  urged  him  to  pick 
up  the  gauntlet.  He  was  loath,  being  a  stranger ; 
but  they  beat  doAvn  the  rampart  of  his  objections, 
and  finally  Eobinson  consented  to  dispute.  Epis- 
copius and  the  Pilgrim  pastor  met,  and  in  this  public 
tilt  the  English  champion  is  said  to  have  achieved 
"  a  famous  victory."- 

Ever  after  this  verbal  tournament,  Robinson 
was  held  in  the  highest  esteem  by  the  learned  men 
of  the  university,  by  the  Dutch  preachers,  and  by 
the  republican  government  of  Holland.t  Indeed, 
it  is  said  that  nothing  but  the  fear  of  offending  the 
English  king  prevented  the  bestowal  upon  him  of 
some  mark  of  national  favor.J 

On  their  part,  the  English  refugees  always 
treated  the  reformed  churches  of  the  Continent 
with  honor  and  fraternal  kindness.    "  We  acknowl- 

London  in  1851,  with  a  memoir  and  annotations  by  Mr.  Robert 
Ashton. 

*  Bradford,  p.  21.     Cotton  Mather's  Magnalia,  vol.  1,  p.  47. 

f  Bradford,  Mather,  Stoughton. 

J  Ibid. ,  Young,  Ashton's  Life  of  Eobinson. 

PllBitni  Fa  the  IB.  g 


50  THE   PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

edge,"  remarked  Bobinson,  "  before  God  and  man, 
that  we  harmonize  so  perfectly  Avith  the  reformed 
churches  of  the  Netherlands  in  matters  of  religion, 
as  to  be  ready  to  subscribe  their  articles  of  faith, 
and  every  one  of  them,  as  they  are  set  forth  in  their 
confession.  We  acknowledge  these  churches  as 
true  and  genuine ;  we  hold  fellowship  with  them  as 
far  as  we  can;  those  among  us  who  understand 
Dutch,  attend  their  j)reaching ;  we  offer  the  Sup- 
per to  such  of  their  members  as  are  known  to  us 
and  may  desire  it."* 

Yet  the  Pilgrims  did  not  indorse  the  system  of 
church  government  which  received  the  imprimatur 
of  the  Synod  of  Dort.  They  steadfastly  maintained 
that  each  single  church  or  society  of  Christians 
possessed  within  itself  full  ecclesiastical  authority 
for  choosing  officers,  administering  all  the  ordi- 
nances of  the  gospel,  and  settling  its  discipline  ;  in 
a  word,  they  held  to  the  perfect  independence  of 
the  individual  churches,  and  framed  their  ecclesi- 
tical  polity  on  the  purest  democratic  model. t 

"  They  conceded,"  observes  Uhden,  "  that  syn- 
ods and  councils  might  be  useful  in  healing  divis- 
ions between  churches,  and  in  imi3arting  to  them 
friendly  advice,  but  not  in  the  exercise  of  judicial 
authority  over  them,  or  in  the  imj)Osition  of  any 
canon  or  any  article  of  faith,  without  the  free  assent 
of  each  individual  church. ";|: 

*  Robinson's  Apology  for  the  Eomanists, 
t  Uhden,  New  England  Theocracy,  p.  42.    Robinson's  Works, 
etc.  X  Uhden,  p.  42. 


THE  HALT.  51 

Sbeatlied  in  the  panoply  of  their  principles, 
busied  in  the  multifarious  activities  of  their  daily 
emj)loyments,  and  solaced  by  faith,  the  Pilgrims 
"  made  shift  to  live  in  these  hard  times."  Pere- 
grini  Deo  cura,  runs  the  old  Latin  phrase ;  and  this 
exiled  band  of  worshippers  proved  that  strangers 
are  indeed  peculiar  objects  of  God's  care. 


52  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE   DECISION. 

"Can  ye  lead  out  to  distant  colonies 
The  o'erflowings  of  a  people,  or  j'our  wronged 
Brethren,  by  impious  persecution  driven. 
And  arm  their  breasts  with  fortitude  to  try 
New  regions — climes,  though  barren,  yet  beyond 
The  baneful  power  of  tjTants  ?     These  are  deeds 
For  which  their  hardy  labors  well  prepare 
The  sinewy  arms  of  Albion's  sons." 

Dyer. 

Although  the  Pilgrims  resided  at  Ley  den  in 
honor,  and  at  peace  with  God  and  their  own  con- 
sciences, many  circumstances  conspired  to  render 
them  anxious  and  uneasy.  The  horizon  of  the  Neth- 
erlands grew  gloomy  w'ith  portents  of  war.  The 
famous  truce  between  Holland  and  the  SjDaniard 
drew  near  its  conclusion.-  The  imj^atient  demon 
of  strife  stood  knocking  at  the  door.  Homesick- 
ness gnawed  at  their  hearts.  Dear,  cruel  England 
filled  their  thoughts.  The  language  of  the  Dutch 
had  never  become  pleasantly  familiar.t  Frequently 
"  they  saw  poverty  coming  on  them  like  an  armed 
man."  Many  of  their  little  band  were  taken  from 
them  by  death.     "  Grave  mistress  Experience  hav- 

*  This  "famous  truce,"  so  long  desired,  embraced  a  period  of 
twelve  years.  It  was  signed  in  April,  1609,  and  expired  in  1621. 
Grattan,  Hist.  Netherlands. 

i  Bancroft,  Hist.  United  States,  vol.  1,  p.  303. 


THE  DECISION.  53 

ing  taught  tliem  many  things,"  some  of  their  "sagest 
members  began  both  deeply  to  apprehend  their 
present  dangers  and  wisely  to  foresee  the  future, 
and  to  think  of  timely  remedy."  They  inclined  to 
removal,  "not  out  of  any  newfangledness  or  other 
such  like  giddy  humor,  by  which  men  are  often- 
times transported  to  their  great  hurt  and  danger, 
but  for  sundry  weighty  and  solid  reasons."* 

These  have  been  often  recited,  and  they  com- 
pletely vindicate  the  project  to  remove. 

The  Pilgrims  "  saw,  and  found  by  experience, 
the  hardness  of  the  place  and  country  to  be  such 
that  few  in  comparison  would  come  to  them,  and 
fewer  would  bide  it  out  and  continue  with  them; 
for  many  that  joined  them,  and  many  more  who 
desired  to  be  with  them,  could  not  endure  the  great 
labor  and  hard  fare,  with  other  inconveniences 
which  they  underwent  and  were  content  to  bear. 
But  though  they  loved  the  persons  of  the  exiles, 
approved  their  cause,  and  honored  their  sufferings, 
yet  they  left  them  weeping,  as  Orpah  did  her  mother- 
in-law  Naomi,  and  as  those  Romans  did  Cato  in 
Utica,  who  desired  to  be  excused  and  borne  with, 
though  they  could  not  all  be  Catos.f  For  many, 
though  they  desired  to  enjoy  the  ordinances  of  God 
as  the  Pilgrims  did,  yet,  alas,  chose  bondage,  with 
danger  of  conscience,  rather  than  to  endure  these 
hardships.  Yea,  some  preferred  the  prisons  of  Eng- 
land to  this  liberty  in  Holland,  with  these  afflictions. 

a  Bradford,  Hist.  Plymoi;tli  Plantation,  pp.  22,  23. 
f  See  Plutarch's  Life  of  Cato  the  Younger. 


64  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

The  Pilgrims  thought  that  if  a  better  and  easier 
place  of  residence  could  be  had,  it  would  draw  many 
to  them,  and  take  away  these  discouragements. 
Yea,  their  pastor  would  often  say  that  many  of 
those  who  both  wrote  and  preached  against  them 
there  would,  if  they  were  in  a  place  where  they 
might  have  liberty  and  live  comfortably,  practise 
as  they  did."* 

Then  again,  "  they  saw  that,  though  the  exiles 
generally  bore  all  these  difficulties  very  cheerfully 
and  with  resolute  courage,  being  in  the  best  and 
strength  of  their  years,  yet  old  age  began  to  steal 
upon  them — and  their  great  and  continued  labors, 
with  other  crosses  and  sorrows,  hastened  it  before 
the  time — so  it  was  not  only  probably  thought, 
but  apparently  seen,  that  within  a  few  years  more 
they  would  be  in  danger  to  scatter  by  necessities 
pressing  them,  or  sink  under  their  burdens,  or  both. 
Therefore,  according  to  the  divine  proverb,  that  'a 
wise  man  seeth  the  plague  when  it  cometh,  and 
hideth  liimself,'t  so  they,  like  skilful  and  tried  sol- 
diers, were  fearful  to  be  entrapjoed  and  surrounded 
by  their  enemies,  so  as  they  should  neither  be  able 
to  fight  or  fly ;  so  they  thought  it  better  to  dislodge 
betimes  to  some  place  of  better  advantage  and  less 
danger,  if  any  such  could  be  found."| 

It  was  furthermore  perceived  that,  "  as  necessity 

was  a  task-master  over  them,  so  they  were  forced  to 

be  such,  not  only  to  their  servants,  but  in  a  sort  to 

their  dearest  children ;  the  which,  as  it  did  not  a 

«  Bradford.  f  I'i'overbs  22  : 3.  |  Bradford. 


THE  DECISION.  55 

little  wound  the  tender  hearts  of  many  loving  fathers 
and  mothers,  so  it  produced  likewise  sundry  sad 
and  sorrowful  effects;  for  many  of  their  children, 
who  were  of  the  best  disposition  and  most  gracious 
inclinations,  having  learned  to  bear  the  yoke  in  their 
youth,  and  being  willing  to  bear  part  of  their  pa- 
rents' burden,  were  oftentimes  so  oppressed  by  their 
heavy  labors,  that  though  their  minds  were  free  and 
willing,  yet  their  bodies  bowed  under  the  weight, 
and  became  decrepit  in  early  youth,  the  vigor  of 
nature  being  consumed  in  the  bud.  But  that  which 
was  more  lamentable,  and  of  all  sorrows  most  heavy 
to  be  borne,  was,  that  many  of  the  children,  by  these 
means  and  the  great  licentiousness  of  youth  in  those 
countries  and  the  manifold  temptations  of  the  place, 
were  drawn  away  by  evil  example  into  extravagant 
and  dangerous  courses,  getting  the  reins  off  their 
necks,  and  departing  from  their  parents.  Some  be- 
came soldiers,  others  made  far  voyages  by  sea,  and 
some  walked  in  paths  tending  to  dissoluteness  and 
the  danger  of  their  souls,  to  the  great  grief  of  their 
parents  and  the  dishonor  of  God,  The  Pilgrims 
saw  that  their  posterity  would  be  in  danger  to  de- 
generate and  be  corrupted."* 

Still  again — "and  this  was  not  least" — they  were 
inclined  to  remove  by  the  "  great  hope  and  inward 
zeal  they  had  of  laying  some  good  foundation,  or  at 
least  of  making  some  way  thereto,  for  the  propaga- 
tion and  advancement  of  the  gospel  of  the  kingdom 
of  Christ  in  remote  parts  of  the  world ;  yea,  though 

«*  Bradford,  p.  24. 


56  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

thej  should  be  but  even  as  stepping-stones  unto 
others  for  the  performance  of  so  gi^eat  a  Avork."* 

These  and  some  other  kindred  reasonsf  pushed 
the  Pilgrims  to  further  emigration.  The  question 
which  each  began  to  ask  the  other  was,  "  Whither 
shall  we  go?"  Soon  this  query  stared  all  other 
considerations  out  of  countenance,  and  became  the 
all-engrossing  topic  of  discussion  at  the  hearth- 
stones and  in  the  chapel  of  the  exiles. 

At  this  juncture  a  germ  of  thought  was  devel- 
oped which  proved  to  be  the  seed  of  a  mighty  em- 
pire. All  Europe  stood  a-tip-toe  gazing  across  the 
misty  and  chilling  waste  of  waters  towards  that 
new  continent  by  whose  discovery  the  genius  of 
Columbus  had  rounded  the  globe  into  perfect  sym- 
metry. The  glories  of  the  New  World  flashed  in 
the  brilliant  eloquence  of  Ealeigh.  Marvellous  tales 
were  told  of  the  fertility  of  the  soil  and  of  the  health- 
ful beauty  of  the  skies;  while  old  sailors,  who  had 
gazed  with  their  own  eyes  upon  the  legendary 
shores,  passed  from  city  to  city  depicting  to  eager 
and  credulous  crowds  the  terrors  of  the  wilderness 
and  the  wild  ferocity  of  the  Western  savages. 

Meantime  "  the  career  of  maritime  discovery  had 
been  pursued  with  daring  intrepidity  and  rewarded 
with  brilliant  success.  The  voyages  of  Gosnold, 
and  Smith,  and  Hudson,  the  enterprise  of  Raleigh, 
and  DelaAvare,  and  Gorges,  the  compilations  of 
Eden,  and  Willes,  and  Hakluyt,  had  filled  the  com- 

e  Bradford,  p.  24. 

f  For  additional  reasons,  see  Young,  p.  385. 


THE  DECISION.  57 

mercial  world  with  wonder.  Calvinists  of  the  French 
church  had  ah-eady  sought,  though  vainly,  to  plant 
themselves  in  Brazil,  in  Carolina,  and,  with  De 
Monts,  in  Acadia;"*  and  now,  in  1G17,  some  bold 
thinker  and  unshrinking  speaker  among  the  Ley- 
den  Pilgrims,  perhaps  Brewster,  perhaps  Bradford, 
perhaps  Kobinson  himself,  proposed  to  colonize 
"  some  of  those  vast  and  unpeopled  countries  of 
America  which  were  fruitful  and  fit  for  habitation, 
but  devoid  of  all  civilized  inhabitants ;  where  there 
were  only  savage  and  brutish  men,  who  ranged  up 
and  down  little  otherwise  than  as  wild  beasts."t 

At  the  outset  the  Pilgrims  listened  to  this  pro- 
posal, some  with  admiration,  some  with  misgiving, 
some  openly  aghast.  Bradford's  quaint  pages  afford 
us  some  glimpses  of  their  debates.  The  doubters 
said,  "  It  is  a  great  design,  and  subject  to  incon- 
ceivable perils ;  as  besides  the  casualties  of  the  seas, 
which  none  can  be  freed  from,  the  length  of  the  voy- 
age is  such  that  the  weak  bodies  of  many  worn  out 
with  age  and  travel,  as  many  of  us  are,  can  never 
be  able  to  endure ;  and  even  if  they  should,  the  mis- 
eries to  which  we  should  be  exposed  in  that  land 
will  be  too  hard  for  us  to  bear ;  't  is  hkely  that  some 
or  all  will  effect  our  ruin.  There  we  shall  be  liable 
to  famine,  and  nakedness,  and  want  of  all  things. 
The  change  of  air,  diet,  and  water,  will  infect  us 
with  sickness;  and  those  who  escape  these  evils 
will  be  in  danger  of  the  savages,  who  are  cruel, 

o  Bancroft,  Hist.  United  States,  vol.  1,  p.  303. 
t  Bradford,  p.  2-4  ;  Young's  Cbronicles,  etc. 

3* 


58  THE  PILGRIM  FATHEES. 

barbarous,  and  most  treaclierous  in  their  rage,  and 
merciless  when  they  overcome;  not  being  content 
only  to  kill,  but  delighting  to  torment  men  in  the 
most  bloody  way,  flaying  men  alive  with  the  shells 
of  fishes,  cutting  off  the  joints  by  piece-meal,  broil- 
ing them  on  coals,  and  eating  collops  of  their  vic- 
tims' flesh  while  they  yet  live,  and  in  their  very 
sight." 

As  these  horrors  darkened  in  their  imaginations, 
the  deeply-interested  exiles  who  thronged  the  coun- 
cil-chamber shuddered  with  affright.  Mothers, 
hearing  the  shrill  war-whoop  in  advance,  strained 
their  babes  yet  closer  to  their  breasts.  "  Surely  it 
could  not  be  thought  but  the  very  hearing  of  these 
things  must  move  the  very  bowels  of  men  to  grate 
within  them,  and  make  the  weak  to  quake  and 
tremble." 

But  the  opponents  of  the  project  irrged  still 
other  objections,  "  and  those  neither  unreasonable 
nor  improbable."  "  It  will  require,"  they  said,  "  more 
money  than  we  can  furnish  to  prepare  for  such  a 
voyage.  Similar  schemes  have  failed;*  and  our 
experience  in  removing  to  Holland  teaches  us  how 
hard  it  is  to  live  in  a  strange  country,  even  though 
it  be  a  rich  and  civilized  commonwealth.  What 
then  shall  we  do  in  the  frozen  wilderness?" 

Fear  chilled  the  hearts,  doubt  paralyzed  the 
nerves  of  the  assembled  exiles.  Then  the  more 
resolute  stood  up,  and,  fixing  their  eyes  on  the  sky, 

*'  In  allusion,  probably,  to  the  plantation  project  at  Sagadahoc, 
in  1607.     See  Bancroft  and  others. 


THE  DECISION.  59 

exclaimed,  "  God  will  protect  us ;  aud  he  points  us 
on.  All  great  and  honorable  actions  are  accompa- 
nied with  great  difficulties,  and  must  be  both  under- 
taken and  overcome  with  answerable  courage.  We 
grant  the  dangers  of  this  removal  to  be  tremendous, 
but  not  desperate;  the  difficulties  are  many,  but 
not  invincible  ;  for  though  many  of  them  are  likelj^, 
all  are  not  certain.  It  may  be  that  sundry  of  the 
things  surmised  may  never  happen ;  others,  by  prov- 
ident care  and  the  use  of  good  means,  may  be  pre- 
vented; and  all  of  them,  through  the  help  of  God, 
by  fortitude  and  patience  may  either  be  borne  or 
overcome.  True  it  is  that  such  attempts  are  not  to 
be  undertaken  without  good  reason;  never  rashly 
or  lightly,  as  many  have  done,  for  curiosity  or  hope 
of  gain.  But  our  condition  is  not  ordinary;  our 
ends  are  good  and  honorable;  our  calling  lawful 
and  urgent;  therefore  we  may  invoke  and  expect 
God's  blessing  on  our  proceeding.  Yea,  though 
we  should  lose  our  lives  in  this  action,  yet  may  we 
have  comfort  in  it,  and  our  endeavor  would  be  hon- 
orable. "We  live  here  but  as  men  in  exile ;  and  as 
great  miseries  may  befall  us  in  this  place,  for  the 
twelve  years  of  truce  are  now  nigh  up,  and  here  is 
nothing  but  beating  of  drums  and  preparations  for 
war,  the  events  whereof  are  always  uncertain.  The 
Spaniard  may  prove  as  cruel  as  the  savages  of 
America,  and  the  famine  and  pestilence  as  sore 
here  as  there,  and  our  liberty  less  to  look  out  for  a 
remedy."* 

*  This  debate  is  copied  from  Bradford,  pp.  25-27. 


60  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEES. 

It  was  thus  that  the  undaunted  apostles  of  the 
future  pleaded;  and  now  as  always,  the  policy  of 
active,  trustful,  and  religious  courage  overbore  the 
timid  pleas  of  the  undecided,  the  plausible  doubts 
of  the  skeptical,  and  the  wailing  dissent  of  the  croak- 
ers who  paused  distrustful  of  the  unknown  future 
and  enamoured  of  the  anchored  past.  The  Pil- 
grims announced  their  decision  to  follow  in  the 
wake  of  Columbus,  and  launch  boldly  across  the 
Atlantic,  trusting  God. 


FAEEWELL.  Gi 


CHAPTEE   IV. 

PAKEWELL. 

"Like  Israel's  host  to  exile  clriveu, 

Across  the  flood  the  Pilgrims  fled  ; 
Their  hands  bore  up  the  ark  of  heaven, 

And  Heaven  jtheir  trusting  footsteps  led, 
Till  on  these  savage  shores  they  trod, 

And  won  the  wilderness  for  God." 

PlERPONT. 

Having  decided  to  settle  in  America,  the  Pilgrims, 
"  after  humble  prayers  unto  God  for  his  direction 
and  assistance/'  held  another  general  conference, 
and  in  this  they  discussed  the  location  of  their  pro- 
posed colony.  Some  were  ardent  for  Guiana,*  whose 
tropical  climate  and  immeasurable  mineral  wealth 
Raleigh  had  painted  in  dazzling  colors,  and  whose 
fertility  was  such  that  it  was  only  necessary  to 
"  tickle  it  with  a  hoe,  and  it  would  laugh  with  a 
harvest."  The  Spaniard  was  already  there.  It  has 
been  well  said  that  the  golden  dreams  which  deluded 
the  first  European  settlers  of  America  were  akin, 
alike  in  object  and  results,  to  the  old  alchy mists' 
search  after  the  philosopher's  stone.  The  painful 
alchymist  lost  not  only  the  gold  he  sought,  but  the 
wealth  of  knowledge  and  of  substantial  commercial 
treasure  which  the  researches  of  modern  chemistry 
have  disclosed ;  and  so  the  Sj)anish  colonists  slighted 

*  Bradford,  Young,  Elliot,  Bancroft,  etc. 


62  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEES. 

the  abounding  wealth  of  a  genial  climate  and  a  fer- 
tile soil,  while  chasing  the  illusive  phantom  of  ''  a 
land  of  gold."* 

Yet,  despite  the  apparent  oj^ening  in  Guiana,  the 
Pilgrims  would  not  go  thither,  partly  because  the 
pretensions  of  England  to  the  soil  were  wavering, 
but  chiefly  because  a  horde  of  intolerant  and  ubi- 
quitous Jesuits  had  already  planted  themselves  in 

that  vicinity.t 

"Upon  their  talk  of  removing,  sundry  of  the 
Dutch  would  have  had  them  go  under  them,  and 
made  them  large  offers;"  but  "the  Pilgrims  were 
attached  to  their  nationality  as  Englishmen,  and  to 
the  language  of  their  fatherland.  A  deep-seated 
love  of  country  led  them  to  the  generous  purpose 
of  recovering  the  protection  of  England  by  enlarg- 
ing her  dominions.  They  were  'restless'  with  the 
desire  to  live  once  more  under  the  government  of 
their  native  land.":j: 

This  feeling  led  them  to  reject  the  proposal  of 
the  Holland  merchants;  and,  since  they  had  also 
given  up  the  idea  of  colonizing  Guiana,  they  deter- 
mined to  essay  a  settlement  in  "the  most  northern 
parts  of  Virginia,"  hoping  under  the  provincial  gov- 
ernment "  to  live  in  a  distinct  body  by  themselves," 
at  peace  with  God  and  man.§ 

There  were  in  1617  two  organized  English  com- 
panies which  had  been  chartered  by  James  I.  to 

«5  Wilson's  Pilgrim  Fathers,  p.  341. 

t  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  p.  204.  J  Ibid. 

§  Ibid.,  Bradford,  Young. 


FAEEWELL.  G6 

colonize  America,  and  empowered  to  effect  regular 
and  permanent  settlements,  extending  one  hundred 
miles  inland.  The  headquarters  of  one  of  these  was 
in  London,  of  the  other  in  Plymouth.*  The  Lejden 
Pilgrims  were  impelled  to  sail  under  the  auspices 
of  one  of  these  merchant-companies  by  a  double 
consideration — a  lack  of  means  to  effect  an  inde- 
pendent settlement,  and  a  desire  to  emigrate  in 
such  shape  that  they  might  live  under  English  pro- 
tection.f  Hence  on  selecting  Virginia  as  the  site  of 
their  intended  settlement,  the  exiles  at  once  de- 
spatched two  of  their  number  to  England,  at  the 
charge  of  the  rest,:}:  to  negotiate  with  the  Yirginia 
company.§  They  "found  God  going  along  with 
them;"  and  through  the  influence  of  '"Sir  Edwin 
Sandys,  a  religious  gentleman  then  living,"  they 
might  at  once  have  gained  a  patent;  but  the  care- 
ful envoys  desired  first  to  consult  "  the  multitude" 
at  Leyden.ll 

In  their  interview  Avitli  the  Leyden  merchants, 
the  envoj'S  had  expressly  stipulated  for  freedom  of 
religious  worship.lF  On  their  return  to  Holland 
they  told  the  Leyden  congregation  that  they  "  found 
the  Virginia  company  very  desirous  to  have  them 
go  out  under  their  auspices,  and  willing  to  grant 
them  a  patent,  with  as  ample  privileges  as  they 
could  bestow;  while  some  of  their  chiefs  did  not 

*  Wilson's  Pilgrim  Fathers,  p.  356. 

\  Ibid.,  Bradford,  Bancroft.  %  Bradford,  p.  29. 

§  Ibid.  II  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  p.  304 

It  Bradford,  p.  28. 


G4  THE  PILGEIM  FATHERS. 

doubt  their  ability  to  obtain  a  guaranty  of  tolera- 
tion for  them  from  the  king."^ 

The  Pilgrim  agents  carried  back  with  them  a 
friendly  and  sympathizing  letter  from  Sir  Edwin 
Sandys  ;t  and  to  this  a  formal  answer  was  re- 
turned. "  We  verily  believe,"  wrote  Eobinson  and 
Brewster,  "that  the  Lord  is  with  us,  unto  whom 
and  whose  service  we  have  given  ourselves  in  many 
trials ;  and  that  he  will  graciously  prosper  our  en- 
deavors according  to  the  simplicity  of  our  hearts 
therein.  We  are  well  weaned  from  the  delicate  milk 
of  our  mother-country,  and  inured  to  the  difficulties 
of  a  strange  and  hard  land,  which  yet,  in  a  great 
part,  we  have  by  patience  overcome.  Our  people 
are,  for  the  body  of  them,  industrious  and  frugal, 
we  think  we  may  say,  as  any  company  of  people  in 
the  world.  We  are  knit  together  as  a  body  in  a 
most  strict  and  sacred  bond  and  covenant  of  the 
Lord,  of  the  violation  whereof  we  make  great  con- 
science, and  by  virtue  whereof  we  do  hold  ourselves 
strictly  tied  to  all  care  of  each  other's  good,  and  of 
the  whole.  It  is  not  with  us  as  with  other  men, 
Avhom  small  things  can  discourage,  or  small  discon- 
tentments cause  to  wish  themselves  at  home  again. 
We  know  our  entertainment  in  England,  and  in 
Holland;  we  shall  much  prejudice  both  our  arts 
and  means  by  removal;  but  once  gone,  we  should 

o  Bradford,  p.  28. 

t  For  some  account  of  Sir  Edwin  Sandys,  one  of  the  most 
prominent  members  of  the  Virginia  company,  see  Hood's  Athenae 
Oxon.,  vol.  2,  p.  472. 


FAEEWELL.  fiS 

not  be  won  to  return  by  any  hope  to  recover  even 
our  present  helps  and  comforts."* 

"While  these  negotiations  were  pending  the  Vir- 
ginia company  found  much  greater  difBcvilty  than 
they  had  apprehended  in  winning  from  the  silly  and 
pedantic  king  an  assent  to  the  tolerant  clauses  of 
the  Pilgrims'  patent;  "and  though  many  means 
were  used  to  bring  it  about,  it  could  not  be 
effected."'!-  When  the  Pilgrims  asked  that  liberty 
of  worship  might  be  confirmed  under  the  king's 
broad  seal,  they  were  asked  two  questions :  "  How 
intend  ye  to  gain  a  livelihood  in  the  new  country?" 
The  reply  was,  "  By  fishing,  at  first."  "  Who  shall 
make  your  ministers?"  was  the  next  queiy.  The 
Pilgrims  answered,  "  The  power  of  making  them  is 
in  the  church ;"  and  this  spoiled  all.  To  enlarge 
the  dimensions  of  England  James  I.  esteemed  "a 
good  and  honest  motive;  and  fishing  was  an  hon- 
est trade,  the  apostles'  own  calling,"  yet  he  referred 
their  suit  to  the  decision  of  the  prelates  of  Canter- 
bury and  London-t- 

The  exiles  were  advised  not  to  carry  their  suit 
before  the  bishops,  but  to  rely  upon  events  and  the 
disposition  which  his  majesty  had  shown  to  connive 
at  their  enterprise  under  "  a  formal  promise  of  neg- 
lect."§  Besides,  it  was  considered  that  if  James 
had  confirmed  their  titles,  nothing  could  bind  him. 
"  If  afterwards  there  should  be  a  purpose  to  wrong 

«  This  letter,  as  also  that  of  Sandys  which  occasioned  it,  may 
be  found  in  extenso  in  Bradford,  pp.  30,  31,  32,  33. 

t  Bradford,  p.  29,  ±  Bancroft,  p.  305.  §  Bancroft. 


66  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEKS. 

US,"  said  they,  "  though  we  had  a  seal  as  broad  as 
the  house  floor,  it  would  not  serve  the  turn;  for 
there  would  be  means  enough  found  to  recall  or 
reverse  it."*  So  they  determined  in  this,  as  in  other 
things,  to  rest  on  God's  providence. 

New  agents  were  at  once  despatched  to  England 
to  urge  forward  the  lagging  prejoarations.  But  dis- 
sensions in  the  Yirginia  company  "ate  out  the  heart 
of  action."  At  last,  in  1619,  a  patent  was  granted,t 
and  only  "  one  more  negotiation  remained  to  be 
completed.  The  Pilgrims  were  not  possessed  of 
sufficient  capital  for  the  execution  of  their  scheme. 
The  confidence  in  wealth  to  be  derived  from  fish- 
eries had  made  American  expeditions  a  subject 
of  consideration  with  English  merchants;  and  the 
agents  from  Leyden  were  able  to  form  a  partner- 
ship between  their  friends  and  the  men  of  business 
in  London.  A  company  called  the  'Merchant-Ad- 
venturers' was  formed.  The  services  of  each  emi- 
grant were  rated  as  a  capital  of  ten  j)ounds,  and 
belonged  to  the  company;  all  profits  were  to  be 
reserved  till  the  end  of  seven  years,  when  the  whole 
amount,  and  all  houses,  lands,  gardens,  and  fields, 
were  to  be  divided  among  the  shareholders  accord- 
ing to  their  respective  interests.  A  London  mer- 
chant who  risked  one  hundred  pounds  would  receive 
for  his  money  tenfold  more  than  the  penniless  laborer 

•^  Eradford. 

f  Ibid.  "Being  takeu  iu  the  name  of  one  who  failed  to  ac- 
company the  expedition,  the  patent  was  never  of  the  least  ser- 
vice."   Bancroft,  vol.  1,  p.  303. 


FAKEWELL.  67 

for  his  eutire  services.  This  arrangement  threat- 
ened a  seven  years'  check  to  the  pecuniary  prosper- 
ity of  the  colony;  yet  as  it  did  not  interfere  with 
civil  rights  or  religion,  it  did  not  intimidate  the 
resolved."" 

It  is  peculiarly  interesting  to  us  of  this  genera- 
tion to  notice  how  prominent  a  trait  republicanism 
was  in  the  intellectual  character  of  the  Pilgrims. 
It  crops  out  constantly.  Nothing  must  be  done 
without  the  assent  of  "  the  multitude."  When  any 
important  matter  was  broached,  the  pastor  did  not 
j)resume  to  dictate,  nor  did  the  elders  assume  to 
control ;  the  decision  rested  with  the  majority  vote 
of  the  community.  Their  council  was  the  ideal 
model  of  a  pure  democracy. 

So  now,  when  their  envoys  returned,  "they  made 
a  public  recital,"  and  the  Pilgrims  "had  a  solemn 
meeting  and  a  day  of  humiliation  to  seek  the  Lord 
for  his  direction. "t  Robinson  preached,  "  teaching 
many  things  very  aptly  and  befitting  their  present 
occasion  and  condition,  strengthening  them  against 
their  fears  and  perplexities,  and  encouraging  them 
in  their  resolutions.":]: 

This  fine  incident  was  at  once  an  illustration  and 
a  prophecy ;  it  illustrated  the  rugged,  seK-centred, 
yet  devout  independence  of  the  exiles,  and  it  proph- 
esied from  this  the  twining  laurels  of  success.  The 
Pilgrims  were  invincible  ;  and  the  secret  of  their 

«  Bancroft,  pp.  305,  306.  The  title  of  the  company  thus 
foi-med  was  "The  Merchant  Adventurers."  See  Elliot,  vol.  1,  p. 
49.  t  Bradford.     Winslow  in  Young's  Chronicles. 

X  Ibid. 


68  THE  PILGEIM  FATHERS. 

strength  was  religious  democracy.  If  in  their  right- 
hand  they  held  an  open  Bible,  signifying  faith  and 
hope,  in  their  left  they  clutched  tenaciously  the  fun- 
damental but  still  crude  principles  of  organized  lib- 
erty— the  now  open  secret  of  later  Saxon  progress. 
At  length,  in  July,  1620,  "  after  much  travail  and 
debate,  all  things  were  got  ready  and  provided."* 
It  had  been  previously  decided  who  and  how  many 
should  sail  with  "the  forlorn  hope;"  "for  all  that 
were  willing  to  have  gone  could  not  get  ready  on 
account  of  their  other  affairs :  neither  if  they  could, 
had  there  been  means  to  have  transported  them  all 
together.  Those  that  stayed  being  the  greater 
number,  required  the  pastor  to  tarry  with  them ; 
and  indeed  for  other  reasons  Robinson  could  not 
then  well  go,  so  this  was  more  readily  yielded  unto. 
The  others  then  desired  elder  Brewster  to  sail  with 
them,  which  was  assented  to.  It  was  also  agreed 
by  mutual  consent  and  covenant,  that  those  who 
went  should  be  an  absolute  church  of  themselves, 
as  well  as  those  who  remained ;  seeing  that,  in  such 
a  dangerous  voyage,  and  removed  to  such  a  dis- 
tance, it  might  come  to  pass  that  they  should,  for 
the  body  of  them,  never  meet  again  in  this  world ; 
yet  this  proviso  was  inserted,  that  as  any  of  the 
rest  crossed  the  water,  or  any  of  the  Pilgrims  re- 
turned upon  occasion,  they  should  be  reputed  as 
members  without  any  further  discussion  or  testi- 
monial. It  was  also  promised  to  those  that  went 
first,  by  the  body  of  the  rest,  that  if  the  Lord  gave 
*  Bradford.    Winslow  in  Young's  Chronicles. 


FAKEWELL.  69 

them  life  and  means  and  opportunity,  tliej  would 
come  to  tliem  as  soon  as  they  could,"* 

On  the  eve  of  departure  a  solemn  fast  was  held. 
"Let  us  seek  of  God,"  said  these  disciples  so  shortly 
to  be  severed  by  the  sullen  sea,  "  a  right  way  for  us 
and  for  our  little  ones  and  for  all  our  substance." 
Is  it  strange  that  New  England  is  moral  and  well- 
ordered  and  devout,  when  it  was  begotten  of  a  fast 
and  a  prayer  ? 

Robinson  gave  the  departing  members  of  his 
exiled  flock  "  a  farewell,  breathing  a  freedom  of 
opinion  and  an  independence  of  authority  such  as 
then  was  hardly  known  in  the  world  ;"t  and  this  he 
intermixed  with  practical  directions  for  the  future 
guidance  of  the  Pilgrim  voyagers.  He  chose  that 
beautiful  text  in  Ezra,  "  And  there,  at  the  river  by 
Ahava,  I  proclaimed  a  fast,  that  we  might  humble 
ourselves  before  God,  and  seek  of  him  a  right  way 
for  us,  and  for  our  children,  and  for  all  our  sub- 
stance.":): 

Unhappily,  "  but  a  brief  outline  of  that  remark- 
able sermon  has  been  preserved.  We  would  gladly 
give  whole  shoals  of  printed  discourses  in  exchange 
for  that  one  homily.  AVhile,  however,  the  larger 
part  is  lost  in  the  long  silence  of  the  past,  the  frag- 
ments of  this  great  man's  farewell  utterances  are 
gathered  up  and  preserved  among  our  richest 
relics."§ 

®  Bradford,  p.  42.  f  Bancroft. 

J  Ezra  8  :  21.     This  is  the  version  in  Bradford's  Narrative. 
§  Stoughton,  Spiritual  Heroes — The  Pilgrim  Fathers. 


70  THE  PILGKIM  FATHEKS. 

Never  was  there  a  more  affecting  occasion.  A 
Christian  congregation,  welded  together  ahke  by  a 
common  faith  and  a  common  misfortune,  was  about 
to  be  rent  asunder.  Some  of  their  number,  thrice 
exiled,  were  soon  to  essay  the  settlement  of  an  un- 
known and  legendary  wilderness.  These  dear  wan- 
derers they  might  never  see  again  with  their  mortal 
eyes ;  and  even  should  they  meet  them  once  more 
on  the  shores  of  time,  years  must  intervene  before 
the  greeting.  Strange  thoughts  and  anxious  chased 
each  other  across  the  troubled  mirror  of  each  coun- 
tenance. All  eyes  were  dim  with  tears ;  all  hands 
were  clasped  ;  the  pastor's  heart  was  full.  Amidst 
the  painful  silence,  broken  by  a  frequent  sob,  the 
low,  sweet  voice  of  Robinson  was  heard  quivering^ 
upon  the  sympathetic  air  :  "  Brethren,  we  are  now 
ere  long  to  part  asunder,  and  the  Lord  knoweth 
whether  I  shall  live  ever  to  see  your  faces  more. 
But  whether  the  Lord  hath  appointed  it  or  not,  I 
charge  you  before  God  and  his  blessed  angels  to 
follow  me  no  farther  than  I  have  followed  Christ. 
If  God  should  reveal  any  thing  to  you  by  any  other 
instrument  of  his,  be  as  ready  to  receive  it  as  ever 
you  were  to  receive  any  truth  of  my  ministry,  for  I 
am  very  confident  the  Lord  hath  more  truth  and 
light  yet  to  break  forth  out  of  his  holy  word.  Mis- 
erably do  I  bewail  the  state  and  condition  of  the 
reformed  churches,  who  are  come  to  a  period  in 
religion,  and  will  go  no  farther  than  the  instru- 
ments of  their  reformation. 

"  Remember   your  church  covenant,  in  which 


FAEEVYELL.  71 

you  have  agreed  to  walk  in  all  the  ways  of  the 
Lord,  made  or  to  be  made  known  unto  you.  Re- 
member your  promise  and  covenant  with  God  and 
with  one  another  to  receive  whatever  light  and  truth 
shall  be  made  known  to  you  from  his  written  word ; 
but  withal,  take  heed,  I  beseech  you,  what  you  re- 
ceive for  truth,  and  compare  it  and  weigh  it  with 
other  scriptures  of  truth  before  you  accept  it ;  for 
it  is  not  possible  the  Christian  world  should  come 
so  lately  out  of  such  thick  antichristian  darkness, 
and  that  full  perfection  of  knowledge  should  break 
forth  at  once."* 

Much  is  said  nowadays  about  the  development 
of  Christianit3\  The  clatter  of  ^se?<cZo-philosophers 
is  deafening.  We  have  the  German  rationalistic 
school;  the  worshippers  in  the  "broad  church"  of 
the  humanitarians ;  the  idolaters  of  a  mystic  pan- 
theism ;  the  devotees  of  the  Socinian  tenets ;  the 
bold  blasphemers  who  reject  all  faith,  and  form  a 
creed  in  epigrammatic  sneers ;  and  the  apostles  of 
two  churches,  one  of  which  believes  that  God  is  too 
good  to  damn  men,  while  the  other  holds  that  man 
is  too  good  to  be  damned.  All  this  divinity  is  quite 
adrift ;  it  floats  rudderless,  and  rejects  the  anchor- 
age of  God's  word.  Robinson  was  wiser.  He  was 
no  friend  of  stagnant  Christianity ;  but  in  all  his 
voyaging  after  truth  he  clung  to  his  Bible  anchor- 
age. Inside  of  that  he  saw  ample  room  for  the 
completest  development.     "  The  Bible,  not  the  fa- 

*  Neale  ;  Wiuslow  iu  Young  ;  Belknap,  Stoughton,  etc. 


72  THE   PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

thers,  formed  his  text-book  ;  he  discerned  there  the 
depths  of  truth  and  glory,  into  which  he  was  per- 
suaded that  thoughtful  minds  might  plunge  farther 
and  farther  as  time  rolled  on.  The  Bible  was  to 
him  like  the  universe,  a  system  unchangeable  in  its 
great  facts  and  fundamental  principles,  but  ever 
opening  wider  and  wider  upon  devout  and  studious 
intellects.  He  knew  there  would  be  no  change  in 
God's  word,  no  addition  to  or  subtraction  from  its 
contents ;  but  he  looked  for  beautiful  and  improv- 
ing changes  in  men's  views — for  broader,  clearer, 
and  grander  conceptions  of  God's  truth."*  This 
was  Robinson's  idea  of  "  the  development  of  Chris- 
tianity," and  it  was  surcharged  with  profound  phi- 
losophy as  well  as  with  sound  practical  direction 
and  Christian  pathos.  The  great  Puritan  teacher 
was  neither  a  Socinian,  a  Pantheist,  a  nationalist, 
nor  a  Mystic  ;  he  claimed  no  kinship  with  the  mon- 
ey-changers who  scourge  Christ  out  of  the  temple 
of  his  divinity  ;  least  of  all  did  he  sympathize  with 
those  who  reject  the  sufficiency  of  the  Scripture 
text,  and  found  their  schemes  of  progress  upon 
material  bases.  No ;  Eobinson  favored  the  most 
radical  Christian  progress,  but  he  based  his  idea 
upon  the  Bible,  and  knew  how  to  guard  his  notion 
of  development  from  misconception  and  abuse. 
The  evangelical  believers  of  our  day  owe  the  fa- 
mous Leyden  exile  a  lasting  debt  of  gratitude  for 
the  clear  distinction  which  he  has  drawn  between 
the  progressive  "  liberty  of  the  sons  of  God,"  and 

*  Stoughton,  p.  97. 


FAEEWELL.  73" 

the  earth-born  wliims  wliicli  materialism  baptizes 
with  the  name  of  "  progress." 

In  this  same  sermon  Eobinson  pressed  one  other 
thing,  exhibiting,  in  a  bigoted  and  narrow  age, 
rare  cathohcitj  of  spirit.  "  Another  thing  I  com- 
mend to  you,"  he  said ;  "  by  all  means  shake,  off 
the  name  of  Broionist/'  'Tis  a  mere  nickname,  a 
brand  to  make  religion  odious,  and  the  professors 
of  it,  to  the  Christian  world.  To  that  end  I  should 
be  glad  if  some  godly  minister  would  go  over  with 
you  before  my  coming ;  for  there  will  be  no  appre- 
ciable diflference  between  the  Puritans  who  have 
not  renounced  the  church  of  England  and  you, 
when  you  come  to  the  practice  of  the  ordinances 
out  of  the  British  kingdom.  By  all  means  close 
with  the  godly  party  of  England,  and  rather  study 
union  than  division ;  in  how  nearly  we  may  possi- 
bly, without  sin,  close  with  them,  than  in  the  least 
measure  to  affect  division  or  separation  from  them. 
Nor  be  ye  loath  to  take  another  pastor  or  teacher ; 
for  that  flock  which  hath  two  shepherds  is  not  en- 
dangered, but  secured  thereby."! 

*  The  first  separatists  were  so  called  after  Robert  Brown,  who, 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  century,  propounded  a  system 
of  church  government  which  contained  many  of  the  features  of 
modern  Congregationalism.  Brown  was  born  in  1549,  and  was  a 
relative  of  Elizabeth's  lord-treasurer,  the  famous  Burleigh.  In 
1582  he  published  his  book,  "The  Life  and  Manners  of  True 
Christians,"  and  suffered  persecution  therefor.  Eventually,  after 
a  roving  life,  he  conformed  to  the  church  of  England,  and  was 
made  rector  in  Northamptonshire.  Shortly  after,  he  died  very 
miserably  in  a  jail.  Stiype's  Annals,  vol.  2.  Collier's  Eccl.  Hist., 
part  2,  book  7.  f  Wiuslow's  account  of  Eobinson's  Sermon. 

Pilgrim  Fathers.  4- 


74:  THE  PILGEIM  FATHERS. 

Tims  abruptly  ends  this  precious  fragment; 
and  it  may  justly  be  esteemed  one  of  the  rarest 
verbal  gems  in  the  trophied  casket  of  our  Saxon 
tongue. 

Two  vessels  had  been  chartered  for  the  voyage : 
the  "  SpeediveU^''  a  small  ship  of  some  sixty  tons, 
and  a  larger  vessel  of  a  hundred  and  eighty  tons, 
called  the  ''  Mayfloicerr''  The  "Speedwell"  lay 
moored  at  Delft  Haven,  a  little  seaport  in  the  vicin- 
ity of  Leyden.t  The  Pilgrims  were  to  sail  in  this 
ship  across  the  Channel  to  Southampton,  where  the 
"Mayflower"  would  join  them,  and  thence  they 
were  to  launch  in  company  across  the  Atlantic.:}: 

On  the  21st  of  July,  1620,  the  exiles  quitted 
Leyden,  which  had  been  their  quiet  resting-place 
for  eleven  years,  and  journeyed  to  Delft  Haven. 
"When  the  ship  was  ready  to  carry  us  away," 
wrote  Edward  "Winslow,  "  the  brethren  that  stayed 
at  Leyden,  having  again  solemnly  sought  the  Lord 
with  us  and  for  us,  feasted  us  that  were  to  go,  at 
our  pastor's  house,  a  commodious  building.  Here 
we  refreshed  ourselves,  after  tears,  with  singing 
psalms,  making  joyful  melody  in  our  hearts,  as  well 
as  with  the  voice,  there  being  many  of  the  congre- 
gation very  expert  in  music  ;  and  indeed  it  was  the 
sweetest  melody  that  ever  mine  ears  heard.  After 
this  our  friends  accompanied  us  to  Delft  Haven, 
w^here  we  were  to  embark,  and  there  feasted  us 

a  Wilson's  Pilgrim  Fathers.     Bradford,  Belknaii. 
t  Elliot,  Hist,  of  New  England,  vol.  1.     Palfrey,  etc. 
X  Ibid.,  Bradford,  Young. 


FAREWELL.  75 

again.  And  after  prayer  by  our  pastor,  when  a 
flood  of  tears  was  poured  out,  they  accompanied 
us  to  the  ship ;  but  yve  were  not  able  to  speak 
one  to  another  for  the  abundance  of  sorrow  to 
part."* 

Only  a  part  of  the  colonists  went  aboard  the 
"Speedwell"  on  the  day  of  their  arrival  at  Delft 
Haven ;  the  others  tarried  in  the  town  over  night, 
spending  the  hours  in  conversation  and  expressions 
of  true  Christian  love.f  "  The  morning  light  must 
have  gleamed  mournfully  upon  their  eyes  through 
the  windows  of  the  apartments  where  they  assem- 
bled. It  told  them  that  the  last  days  of  their  pleas- 
ant intercourse  with  old,  endeared  friends  had 
come,  for  the  wind  was  fair,  and  the  vessel  was 
ready  to  weigh  anchor  and  sail.  And  so  they  went 
down  to  the  shore,  where  the  scene  at  Miletus  was 
literally  repeated,  save  that  the  people  were  the 
voyagers,  instead  of  their  apostolic  father.  Bobin- 
son  '  kneeled  down  and  prayed  with  them,  and  all 
wept  sore,  and  fell  uj)on  his  neck  and  kissed  him, 
sorrowing  most  of  all  for  the  words  which  he  spake, 
that  they  should  see  his  face  no  more;  then  he 
accompanied  them  to  the  ship.'  Even  the  Dutch 
strangers,  who  saw  the  parting,  stood  and  wept.":]: 

Then  came  the  shrill  "  Yo  hoy"  of  the  seamen; 
final  caresses  were  exchanged  ;  sail  was  hoisted ;  a 
salute  was  fired  from  the  "  Speedwell ;"  and  while 
the  friends  on  shore  watched  the  receding  vessel 

*  Winslow  in  Young's  Chronicles.  t  Stoiiglitou. 

t  Ibid.,  p.  100. 


76  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

and  strained  their  eyeballs  to  retain  their  vision, 
she  glinted  below  the  horizon,  and  was  gone. 

Southampton  was  safely  and  speedily  reached; 
"  the  Speedivell  entered  port  to  join  the  Blayfloicer — 
ships  whose  names  have  become  hallowed,  and  are 
worthy  of  being  placed,  with  the  Argo  of  the  an- 
cients, amid  the  constellations  of  heaven." 


THE  FEOZEN  WILDEKNESS.  77 


CHAPTEK   V. 

THE   FROZEN  WILDERNESS. 

"Whoso  sliriuks  or  falters  now, 
Whoso  to  the  yoke  would  bow 
Brand  the  craven  on  his  brow. 
Take  your  land  of  sun  and  bloom  ; 
Only  leave  to  freedom  room 
For  her  plough,  and  forge,  and  loom." 

WiaTTIEE. 

At  Southampton  the  Pilgrims  made  no  length- 
ened stay,  pausing  but  to  perfect  some  necessary 
final  arrangements.*  A  fortnight  later,  on  the  5th 
of  August,  1620,  the  "Speedwell"  and  the  "May- 
flower" w^eighed  anchor,  and  hoisting  sail,  set  out 
in  company  for  America.  The  English  soil  had 
scarcely  dipped  below  the  horizon,  when  the 
"Speedwell"  made  signals  of  distress;  she  was 
found  to  leak  badly.  After  consultation,  the  voy- 
agers wore  ship,  and  put  into  Dartmouth  harbor 
for  repairs.  Here  the  Pilgrims  passed  eight  days, 
"  to  their  great  charge,  and  loss  of  time  and  a  fair 
wind."t 

On  the  21st  of  August,  a  fresh  start  was  made. 
This  time  a  hundred  leagues  of  sea  were  passed, 
and  the  vessels  were  just  rounding  Land's  End, 
when  lo,  the  "Speedwell"   again   bore  up  under 

«  Young's  Chronicles.     Bradford.  t  Bradford. 


78  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

pretence  of  vmseawortliiness.  Once  more  the  shores 
of  England  were  regained,  and  anchor  was  droj)ped 
in  Plymouth  harbor.  The  captain  of  the  recusant 
ship,  backed  by  his  company,  was  dismayed  at  the 
dangers  of  the  enterprise,  and  gave  out  that  the 
"  Speedwell"  was  too  weak  for  the  voyage.  "Upon 
this,"  says  Bradford,  "it  was  resolved  to  dismiss 
her  and  part  of  the  company,  and  to  proceed  with 
the  'Mayflower.'  This,  though  it  was  grievous 
and  caused  great  discouragement,  was  put  into  ex- 
ecution. So  after  they  had  taken  out  such  provis- 
ion as  the  '  Mayflower '  could  stow,  and  -concluded 
both  what  number  and  what  persons  to  send  back, 
they  had  another  sad  parting,  the  one  ship  going 
back  to  London,  and  the  other  preparing  for  the 
voyage.  Those  that  returned  were  such  as,  for  the 
most  part,  were  willing  to  do  so,  either  out  of  dis- 
content or  some  fear  conceived  of  the  ill-success  of 
a  voyage  pressed  against  so  many  crosses,  and  in  a 
year-time  so  far  spent.  Others,  in  regard  to  their 
own  weakness  and  the  charge  of  many  young  chil- 
dren, were  thought  least  useful,  and  most  unfit  to 
bear  the  brunt  of  this  hard  adventure ;  unto  which 
work  of  God  and  judgment  of  their  brethren  they 
were  content  to  submit.  And  thus,  like  Gideon's 
army,  this  small  number  was  divided,  as  if  the  Lord 
thought  even  these  few  too  many  for  the  great  work 
he  had  to  do.""* 

But  though  Cushman  wrote,  "  Our  voyage  thus 
far  hath  been  as  full  of  crosses  as  ourselves  of  crook- 
•»  Bradford,  pp.  69,  70. 


THE  FROZEN  WILDERNESS.  79 

edness,"*  no  dangers  could  appal  the  dauntless; 
and  "  having  thus  winnowed  their  numbers,  the  little 
band,  not  of  resolute  men  only,  but  wives,  some  far 
gone  in  pregnancy,  children,  infants,  a  floating  vil- 
lage, yet  in  all  but  one  hundred  souls,  went  on  board 
the  single  ship,  which  was  hired  only  to  carry  them 
across  the  Atlantic ;  and  on  the  6th  of  September, 
1620,  thirteen  years  after  the  first  colonization  of 
Virginia,  two  months  before  the  concession  of  the 
grand  charter  of  Plymouth,  without  any  warrant 
from  the  sovereign  of  England,  without  any  useful 
charter  from  a  corporate  body,  the  Pilgrims  in  the 
'Mayflower'  set  sail  for  the  New  World,  where 
the  past  could  offer  no  favorable  auguries."t 

But  these  Christian  heroes  of  a  grander  venture 
than  that  classic  voyage  which  Virgil  has  sung  of 
old  ^neas, 

"Trojic  qui  primus  ab  oris 
Italiam,  fato  profugus,  Lavinaque  venifc 
Litora, "} 

unawed  by  the  abounding  perils  of  the  sea  and 
land,  unchilled  by  the  desertion  of  their  comrades, 
kept  on  their  solitary  way,  and  "bated  no  jot  of 
heart  or  hope." 

The  "Mayflower"  was  a  small  vessel,  yet  smaller 
ones  had  repeatedly  explored  the  ocean.  "  Colum- 
bus' 'ships'  were  from  fifteen  to  thirty-two  tons 
burden,  and  without  decks.  Probisher  had  trav- 
ersed the  watery  waste  with  a  vessel  of  twenty -five 

*  Dated  Dartmouth,  August  17,  1620.  Cusliman  remained  in 
England.    Elliot,  vol.  1,  p.  57.  t  Bancroft. 

t  Virgil's  ^neid,  book  1. 


80  THE  PILGKIM  FATHERS. 

tons,  and  Pring  had  coasted  along  the  shores  of 
New  England  in  a  bark  of  fifty  tons.  Those  were 
manned  by  hardy  seamen,  to  whom  the  tempest 
was  a  play-fellow;  but  these  men  and  women  and 
children  knew  nothing  of  the  sea ;  they  only  knew 
that  ships  sailed,  and  too  often  did  not  return; 
they  had  seen  the  sea,  even  along  the  coasts  of 
England  and  Holland,  lashed  into  fury.  To  trust 
themselves  upon  it  on  an  uncertain  voyage  to  a 
wilderness  harbor"  was  no  gala  undertaking;  yet 
serenely  they  accepted  the  situation,  thankful  to 
God  for  civil  rights  and  untrammelled  liberty  to 
hymn  his  j)raises. 

"  The  voyage  of  the  pioneer  ship,"  says  Elliot, 
"  was  long,  tempestuous,  and  monotonous,  as  what 
sea-voyage  is  not?  yet,  with  a  firm  purpose,  she 
opened  a  way  through  the  buffeting  ocean  towards 
the  setting  sun.  Already  its  rays  came  to  them  a 
little  shorn;  the  autumn  solstice  was  at  hand,  and 
winter  not  far  away.  In  religious  exercises,  in  hope- 
ful conversation,  the  exiles  passed  the  weary  days. 
These  were  varied  by  storms,  and  once  by  a  great 
danger.  In  the  straining  of  the  shij),  a  strong  tim- 
ber threatened  to  break.  Then,  among  the  lumber 
which  they  had  brought,  a  large  '  iron  screw  was 
found,  and  the  ship  was  saved.'  Their  faces  were 
turned  westward,  but  who  can  wonder  that  a  lin- 
gering look  was  cast  behind,  and  that  pleasant 
memories  for  a  moment  dimmed  their  recent  suf- 
ferings and  present  hopes?  Men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren suffered  the  '  sickness  of  the  sea,'  that  sick- 


THE  FROZEN  WILDERNESS.  81 

ness  wliich  is  inexorable,  whicli  weakens  the  knees, 
burdens  tlie  heart,  and  paralyzes  the  brain.  The 
sailors  laughed  and  scoffed;  but  to  them  it  seemed 
that  death  was  nigh.  Yet  it  was  not;  one  only  of 
the  whole  number,  William  Butten,  died  during  the 
voyage ;  and  one  was  born  to  take  his  place,  a  son 
of  Stephen  Hopkins,  named  Oceanus,  the  son  of 
the  sea. 

"  Daily  the  Pilgrims  turned  their  eyes  westward, 
hoping  for  a  sight  of  the  new  land.  They  had 
shaped  their  course  for  the  Hudson  river,  of  which 
the  Dutch  navigators  had  made  favoiable  reports. 
As  the  voyage  lengthened,  their  longings  for  the 
land  increased.  They  had  been  tossed  on  the  sea 
now  sixty-five  days,  when,  on  the  9th  of  November, 
the  long,  low  coast-line  of  the  New  World  glad- 
dened their  eyes.  They  thanked  God  for  the  sight, 
and  took  courage.  On  the  11th  of  November  they 
dropped  anchor  within  Cape  Cod.  Sixty-seven  days 
they  had  passed  in  the  ship  since  their  final  depar- 
ture from  England,  and  one  hundred  and  tAvelve 
since  the  embarkation  at  Delft  Haven.  They  were 
weary,  many  were  sick,  and  the  scurvy  had  attack- 
ed some.  They  might  well  rejoice  that  they  had 
reached  these  shores."* 

On  their  departure  from  Holland,  Robinson  had 
handed  them  a  long  and  pregnant  letter  of  instruc- 
tion and  advice.  In  this  he  counselled,  among 
other  things,  the  early  formation  of  a  body  politic, 
and  the  inauguration  of  a  civil  government.     "  As 

*  Elliot.  Hist.  New  England,  vol.  1,  pp.  58,  59. 
4* 


82  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

you  are  not  furnished  with  persons  of  special  emi- 
nence above  the  rest  to  be  chosen  by  you  into  office 
of  government,"  he  added,  "  let  your  wisdom  and 
godliness  appear  not  only  in  choosing  such  persons 
as  do  entirely  love  and  will  to  promote  your  common 
good,  but  also  in  yielding  unto  them  all  due  honor 
and  obedience  in  their  lawful  administrations."* 

In  obedience  to  this  sage  counsel,  the  Pilgrims 
now,  before  landing,  met  to  consider  how  their  gov- 
ernment should  be  constituted ;  and  they  formed 
themselves  into  a  body  politic  by  this  formal,  sol- 
emn, and  voluntary  compact: 

"  In  the  name  of  God,  Amen  ;  "We  whose  names 
are  underwritten,  the  loyal  subjects  of  our  dread  sov- 
ereign King  James,  having  undertaken,  for  the  glory 
of  God,  and  advancement  of  the  Christian  faith,  and 
honor  of  our  king  and  country,  a  voyage  to  plant 
the  first  colony  in  the  northern  parts  of  Virginia, 
do,  by  these  presents,  solemnly  and  mutually,  in 
the  presence  of  God  and  of  one  another,  covenant 
and  combine  ourselves  together  into  a  civil  body 
politic,  for  our  better  ordering  and  preservation, 
and  furtherance  of  the  ends  aforesaid;  and  by  vir- 
tue hereof,  to  enact,  constitute,  and  frame  such  just 
and  equal  laws,  ordinances,  constitutions,  and  offi- 
ces, from  time  to  time,  as  shall  be  thought  most 
convenient  for  the  general  good  of  the  colony :  unto 
which  we  promise  all  due  submission  and  obedi- 
ence, 't 

o  See  this  whole  letter  in  Bradford,  pp.  64-67. 

t  Bradford,  Yoimg,  etc.  - 


THE  FROZEN  WILDERNESS.  83 

"  This  instrument — under  wliicli  John  Carver 
was  immediately  and  unanimously  chosen  governor 
for  one  year — was  signed  by  the  whole  body  of  men, 
forty-one  in  number  ;  who,  with  their  families,  con- 
stituted the  one  hundred,  the  whole  colony,  '  the 
j)roper  democracy'  that  arrived  in  New  England. 
This  was  the  birth  of  popular  constitutional  liberty. 
The  Middle  Ages  had  been  familiar  with  charters 
and  constitutions ;  but  they  had  been  merely  com- 
pacts for  immunities,  concessions  of  municipal  priv- 
ileges, or  limitations  of  the  sovereign  power  in  favor 
of  feudal  institutions.  In  the  cabin  of  the  '  May- 
flower' humanity  recovered  its  rights,  and  insti- 
tuted government  on  the  basis  of  '  equal  laws '  for 
'  the  general  good.'  "* 

Law  and  order  provided  for,  the  Pilgrims  next 
proceeded  to  select  the  precise  spot  for  their  settle- 
ment. "  The  first  Virginia  colony,"  remarks  Ban- 
croft, "  sailing  along  the  shores  of  North  Carolina, 
was,  by  a  favoring  storm,  driven  into  the  magnifi- 
cent bay  of  the  Chesapeake.  The  Pilgrims,  having 
chosen  for  their  settlement  the  country  near  the 
Hudson,  the  best  position  on  the  whole  coast, 
were  conducted,  through  some  miscalculation,  to 
the  most  barren  and  inhospitable  part  of  Massa- 
chusetts."t 

It  was  a  mooted  question  whether  to  plant  a  col- 
ony on  this  frigid  coast,  or  to  hoist  anchor  anew  and 
set  sail  for  the  Hudson.    The  captain  of  the  "May- 

-  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  p.   310.     This  compact  was  signed  Nov. 
11,  1G20.  t  Ibid.,  p.  309. 


84  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

flower"  favored  an  immediate  settlement;*  and  the 
voyagers,  weary  of  the  sea,  and,  perhaps,  influenced 
by  the  fact  that  the  winter  began  to  breathe  upon 
them,  finally  determined  to  send  ashore  a  reconnoi- 
tering  squad  to  sound  the  disposition  of  the  natives, 
and  to  select  a  landing-spot. 

In  1584,  the  settlers  under  Sir  Walter  Raleigh's 
patent  had  named  the  entire  southeastern  coast  of 
North  America  Virginia,  after  Queen  Elizabeth ;  but 
in  1614  the  name  of  New  England  began  to  be  ap- 
plied to  the  more  northern  portion  of  this  immense 
extent  of  territory;!  and  thus  it  happened  that  here, 
on  this  wild  coast,  the  Pilgrims  had  a  dear  home 
word  still  wrapped  around  them. 

On  the  13th  of  November,  the  exiles  unshipped 
their  shallop.  It  was  found  to  want  repairs.  Six- 
teen or  seventeen  days  must  elapse  ere  it  could  be 
gotten  ready  for  service,  so  the  carpenter  said.  Im- 
patient of  delay,  sixteen  men,  "  with  every  man  his 
musket,  sword,  and  corslet,"  went  ashore,  headed 
by  stout  Miles  Standish,  the  military  leader  of  the 
Pilgrims. 'I 

"Short  of  stature  he  was,  but  strongly  built  and  athletic, 
Broad  in  the  shoulders,  deep-chested,  with  muscles  and  sinews 

of  iron ; 
Brown  as  a  nut  was  his  face,  but  his  russet  beard  was  already 
Flaked  with  patches  of  snow,  as  hedges  sometimes  inNoTember."§ 

*  ' '  Some  have  charged  that  the  Dutch  bribed  the  captain  to  de- 
ceive the  Pilgrims.  Bradford  does  not  mention  it,  and  the  Dutch 
historians  deny  it."     Elliot,  vol.  1,  p.  59. 

t  Uhden,  Wilson,  Smith's  Narrative,  etc. 

J  Bradford,  Elliot,  Bancroft. 

§  Longfellow'.s  Courtship  of  Miles  Standish. 


THE  FROZEN  WILDERNESS.  85 

"On  account  of  the  danger,"  the  expedition  "  wao 
rather  permitted  than  approved."  But  Standish  and 
his  comrades  had  braved  peril  too  often  to  yield 
it  obeisance.  They  found  the  shore  inexpressibly 
bleak  and  barren.  Winter  had  already  set  his  icy 
kiss  upon  the  streams.  Nothing  greeted  their  eyes 
but  heavy  sand,  a  few  stunted  pines,  and  some 
sweet  woods,  as  junipers  and  sassafras.  They  made 
this  record  in  their  journal:  "We  found  the  great- 
est store  of  fowl  that  ever  we  saw."'" 

Explorations  were  at  once  commenced.  "  They 
sent  parties  along  the  coast,  and  into  the  for- 
ests." "About  ten  o'clock  one  morning,"  says  a 
member  of  the  band,  "  we  came  into  a  deep  valley, 
full  of  brush,  woodgaile,  and  tiny  grass,  through 
which  we  found  little  paths  or  tracks,  and  then  we 
.saw  a  deer,  and  found  springs  of  fresh  water,  of 
which  we  were  heartily  glad,  and  sat  us  down 
and  drank  our  first  New  England  water."t  Con- 
tinuing their  march,  they  were  perplexed  by  the 
frequent  forest  cross-j^aths.  Once  they  struck  a 
track  "  well  nigh  ten  feet  broad,"  which  they  thought 
might  lead  to  some  human  habitation;  but  eventu- 
ally they  concluded  that  it  was  "  only  a  path  made 
to  drive  deer  in  when  the  Indians  hunted." 

Still  they  found  no  natives ;  and  wearying  of  that 
path  they  took  another,  when,  lo,  they  saw  a  mound 
"  which  looked  like  a  grave,  but  was  larger."  "Mu- 
sing what  it  might  be,"  they  finally  determined  to 
examine.     "  We  found,"   says   the   old   chronicler, 

*  Journal  of  the  Pilgrims.  f  Ibid. 


86  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

'  "  first  a  mat,  and  under  that  a  fair  bow,  and  then 
another  mat,  and  under  that  a  board  about  three 
feet  long,  finely  carved  and  painted ;  also  between 
the  mats  we  found  bowls,  trays,  dishes,  and  such 
like  trinkets.  At  length  we  came  to  a  fair  new  mat, 
and  under  that  two  bundles — one  bigger  the  other 
less.  We  opened  the  greater,  and  found  in  it  a 
great  quantity  of  fine  and  perfect  red  powder,  and 
the  bones  and  skull  of  a  man.  We  opened  the  less 
bundle,  and  found  the  same  powder  in  it,  and  the 
bones  and  head  of  a  httle  child. 

"Once,  when  examining  one  of  these  grave 
mounds,  we  found  a  little  old  basket  full  of  fair  In- 
dian corn,  and  on  digging  farther,  found  a  fine,  great 
basket  fiill  of  very  fair  corn  of  this  year,  with  some 
thirty-six  goodly  ears  of  corn,  which  was  a  goodly 
sight;  the  basket  was  round  and  narrow  at  the  top; 
it  held  about  three  or  four  bushels,  which  was  as 
much  as  we  could  lift  from  the  ground,  and  it  was 
very  handsomely  and  cunningly  made."* 

This  corn  was  carefully  preserved  for  seed.  "  We 
took  it,"  says  the  conscientious  narrator,  "propo- 
sing, as  soon  as  we  could  meet  with  any  of  the 
inhabitants  of  that  place,  to  make  them  large  satis- 
faction."t  And  afterwards  this  corn  was  mentioned 
to  Massasoit,  the  Indian  king,  when  the  exiles  prof- 
fered it  back  to  the  owners,  and  on  their  refusal  of 
it,  paid  them  in  "whatsoever  they  might  rather 
choose."! 

°  Journal  of  the  Pilgrims.  f  Ibid. 

t  Elliot,  vol,  1,  ID.  61. 


THE  FROZEN  WILDERNESS.  87 

This  exploration  was  unsuccessful;  as  was  also 
the  first  expedition  in  the  shallop,  which  had  been 
at  length  repaired.  "  Some  of  the  people  that  died 
that  winter  took  the  origin  of  their  death"  in  this 
second  enterprise  ;  "  for  it  snowed  and  did  blow  all 
the  day  and  night,  and  froze  withal."  The  men  who 
were  from  time  to  time  set  on  shore  "  were  tired 
with  marching  up  and  down  the  steep  hills  and  deep 
valleys,  which  lay  half  a  foot  thick  with  snow.""^-' 

Checkered  by  these  adventures,  the  days  passed 
away,  and  meantime  the  winter  deepened.  Nothing 
had  yet  been  done,  the  captain  was  impatient  to 
be  gone,  and  he  threatened  to  set  his  passengers 
ashore  at  hap-hazard  under  the  cheerless  skies  and 
bitter  winds  of  drear  December.! 

Pushed  to  renewed  exertion  by  these  considera- 
tions, the  dauntless  Pilgrims  once  more  launched 
their  shallop,  and  quitting  their  loved  ones  in  the 
ship,  again  essayed  to  find  some  proper  site  for  a 
settlement.  This  time  Carver,  Bradford,  Winslow, 
and  Standish,  accompanied  by  eight  sailors,  made 
the  coasting  voyage.lt  Infinite  were  the  hardships 
which  this  little  band,  sailing  in  December,  in  an 
open  boat,  were  compelled  to  undergo.  "  Some  of 
them  were  like  to  have  swooned  with  cold."  "  The 
water,  dashing  in  spray  upon  their  clothes,  froze, 
and  made  them  like  coats  of  iron."  For  fifteen 
leagues  they  held  on  their  cheerless  course  upon 
the  winter  sea.    They  had  quitted  the  "Mayflower" 

o  Baneroft.  t  Bradford,  Winslow. 

X  Ibid.     Young.  E]liot  Bancroft. 


88  THE  PILGKIM  FATHERS. 

on  the  6th  of  December ;  two  days  later  they  landed. 
"  Whereupon,"  says  the  old  chronicler,"  we  espied 
some  Indians,  very  busy  about  some  black  thing; 
what  it  was  we  could  not  tell,  till,  afterAvards,  they 
saw  us,  and  ran  to  and  fro  as  if  they  had  been  car- 
rying away  something."  "It  was  the  body  of  a 
grampus.  Ere  long  a  great  cry  was  heard,  and  one 
of  the  company  came  runniHg  in,  shouting  '  Indi- 
ans! Indians!'  This  was  followed  by  a  flight  of 
arrows ;  but  Captain  Standish  was  ready,  and 
quickly  discharged  his  musket ;  and  then  another, 
and  another,  so  that  the  Indians  retreated,  and,  ex- 
cept for  the  fright,  no  harm  was  done."  "  The  cry 
of  our  enemies,"  remarks  the  narrator,  "  was  fright- 
ful. Their  note  was  after  this  manner:  'IVoath 
ivach  haJia  hach  tvoacJi,'  sounds  which  we  may  now 
utter  with  safety — if  we  can."*  This  spot  was  after- 
wards known  as  "  First  Encounter."t 

No  convenient  harbor  had  yet  been  found.  But 
"the  pilot  of  the  boat,  who  had  been  in  these 
regions  before,  gave  assurance  of  a  good  one  which 
might  be  reached  before  night ;  and  they  followed 
his  guidance.  After  some  hours'  sailing,  a  storm  of 
snow  and  rain  began  ;  the  sea  was  swollen  ;  the  rud- 
der broke ;  the  boat  had  to  be  steered  with  oars. 
Every  moment  the  storm  increased ;  night  was  at 
hand ;  to  reach  harbor  before  dark,  as  much  sail  as 
possible  was  crowded  on  :  then  the  mast  broke  into 
three  pieces  ;  the  sail  fell  overboard.  The  pilot,  in 
dismay,  w^ould  have  run  the  shallop  on  shore  in  a 
•  Elliot,  vol.  1.,  pp.  62,  63.  f  Ibid.     Bradford,  Young. 


THE  FKOZEN  WILDEENESS.  89 

cove  full  of  breakers.  '  About  with  her,'  shouted 
a  sailor,  '  or  we  are  cast  away !'  They  got  her 
about  immediately,  and,  in  passing  over  the  surf, 
they  entered  a  fair  sound,  and  found  shelter  under 
the  lee  of  a  small  rise  of  land.  It  was  dark,  and  the 
rain  beat  furiously ;  yet  the  men  were  so  wet,  and 
cold,  and  weak,  that  they  slighted  the  danger  to  be 
apprehended  from  the  savages,  and  going  ashore, 
after  great  difficulty  kindled  a  fire.  Morning,  as  it 
dawned,  showed  the  f)lace  to  be  a  small  island  with- 
out the  entrance  of  a  harbor.  Time  was  precious ; 
the  season  advancing ;  their  companions  were  left 
off  Cape  Cod  in  suspense.  Yet  the  day  was  required 
for  rest  and  preparation.  It  was  so  spent.  The  fol- 
lowing day  was  the  '  Christian  Sabbath.'  Nothing 
marks  the  character  of  the  Pilgrims  more  fully  than 
that  they  kept  it  sacredly  though  every  considera- 
tion demanded  haste."* 

On  Monday,  the  llthf  of  December,  1620,  the 
exploring  shallop  quitted  the  island  Patmos,  and, 
proceeding  up  the  harbor,  landed  the  Pilgrim  scout- 
ing party,  on  that  same  immortal  day,  at  Plym- 
outh Eock.  There,  in  one  sense.  New  England  was 
born;  and,  as  the  Forefathers  stepped  upon  the 
rock-ribbed  shore,  it  uttered  its  first  baby  cry,  a 
prayer  and  a  thanksgiving  to  the  Lord — an  echo  of 
the  old  Chaldean  shei3herds'  song,  "  Glory  to  God 
in  the  highest;  on  earth  peace,  good- will  to  men." 

•  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  p.  312. 

+  According  to  the  new  stj-le  of  reckoning  time,  it  was  the  22d 
of  Decemher,  now  kept  as  "Forefathers'  Day." 


90  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

THE   PILGEIM   SETTLEMENT. 

' '  Quit  ye  as  men  ;  be  true  then,  who  would  fight 
In  this  so  holy  cause  ;  think  ye  a  soul 
Weighed  down  by  beggarly  lusts  can  have  a  right 
To  urge  God's  ark  of  freedom  to  its  goal  ? 
They  must  be  holy  who  're  ordained  to  be 
The  high  priests  of  a  people's  liberty." 

Wilson. 

A  SHORT  survey  of  the  surrounding  country  con- 
vinced the  Pilgrim  pioneers  that  the  long-sought 
spot  had  at  last  been  found.  They  determined  to 
plant  their  settlement  on  Plymouth  Piock,  with  no 
other  seal  than  the  broad  one  of  the  Divine  sanc- 
tion. Entering  their  shallop,  they  soon  regained 
the  "  Mayflower."  Carver  recited  the  story  of  their 
adventures  to  the  clustering  voyagers;  and  when 
he  said  that  a  spot  had  been  found  where  they 
might  erect  their  Ebenezer,  devoutly  all  thanked 

God. 

At  once  the  "Mayflower's"  course  was  shaped 
for  Plymouth  harbor,  where  she  dropped  anchor  on 
the  16th  of  December.*  The  first  law  on  the  Pil- 
grim statute-book  was,  that  each  man  should  build 

his  own  house.t 

A  few  days  after  the  arrival  of  the  ship,  "a 
party  of  colonists  went  ashore  to  fell  timber,  to 
saw,  to  rive,  to  carry,  and  prepare  for  the  impor- 

e  Bradford,  Wiuslow.  t  Ibid.,  ElUot,  Bancroft. 


THE   PILGEIM  SETTLEMENT.  91 

taut  work  of  building;  and  that  day  every  man 
worked  with  a  will,  hopefully  and  heartily.  A  new 
home,  a  pleasant  refuge,  future  security,  was  the 
aim  of  every  one,  and  while  each  cheered  the  other, 
the  axes  rang  out  in  harmony  with  their  hopes; 
their  strokes  were  as  heavy  as  their  hearts  were 
light.  The  crowned  oaks  of  the  forest  did  homage, 
and  yielded  their  riches  to  found  the  infant  state." 
After  sufficient  timber  had  been  secured  for  present 
want,  "  many  went  to  work  on  an  adjacent  hill*  to 
prepare  fortifications ;  others  measured  the  land, 
and  allotted  the  lots  for  building."t 

The  houses  were  ranged  in  a  double  row  along 
one  street  ;'\.  and  for  economic  reasons  the  commu- 
nity was  divided  into  nineteen  families,  an  arrange- 
ment which  necessitated  fewer  buildings  and  less 
outlay.§  Yet  despite  the  energetic  labors  of  the 
settlers,  they  made  haste  slowly.  At  that  inclem- 
ent season  it  was  almost  impossible  to  build. 
Happily  the  weather  was  moderate  for  December  ;|| 
but  rain  fell  incessantly,  which  was  disastrous  to 
the  health  of  men  already  wasting  away  under  con- 
sumptions and  lung-fevers.lF  It  was  remembered 
that  "a  green  Christmas  makes  a  fat  church-yard." 

The  Pilgrims  were  well  satisfied  with  the  site  of 
their  settlement,  hard  and  sterile  as  it  was.  In- 
deed, they  had  a  devout  liabit  of  looking  on  the 
good,  rather  than  the  evil  of  events,  and  this  made 

ii  Fort  HiU,  now  Burial  HiU.  f  EUiot,  vol.  1,  p.  G6. 

t  Now  called  Leyden-street. 

§  Elliot,  Bradford,  Young's  Chronicles. 

II  Joiu'nal  of  the  Pilgrims.  IT  Ibid.,  Bancroft. 


92  THE  PILGRIM  FATHEES, 

even  their  crosses  easier  to  be  borne.  "  This  har- 
bor," they  said,  "  is  a  bay  greater  than  Cape  Cod, 
compassed  with  goodly  land;  and  in  the  bay  are 
two  fine  islands,^  rininhabited,  wherein  are  noth- 
ing but  woods,  oaks,  pines,  walnuts,  beech,  sas- 
safras, vines,  and  other  trees  which  we  know  not. 
The  bay  is  a  most  hopeful  place,  and  has  innumer- 
able store  of  fowl  and  excellent  food  ;  it  cannot  but 
contain  fish  in  their  seasons ;  skate,  cod,  turbot, 
and  herring,  we  have  tasted  of.  Here  is  abundance 
of  muscles,  the  greatest  and  best  we  ever  saw,  also 
crabs  and  lobsters  in  their  time,  infinite.  The  jDlace 
is  in  fashion  like  a  sickle  or  fish-hook.  The  land 
for  the  crust  of  the  earth  is  a  spit's  depth,  excellent 
black  mould,  and  fat  in  many  places;  and  vines  are 
everywhere,  and  cherry-trees,  x^lum-trees,  and  many 
others  whose  names  we  know  not.  Many  kinds  of 
herbs  we  find  in  winter  hereabouts,  as  strawberry- 
leaves  innumerable,  sorrel,  yarrow,  carrot,  brook- 
lime,  liverwort,  water-cresses,  great  store  of  leeks, 
and  an  excellent  strong  kind  of  flax  or  hemp.  Here 
is  sand,  gravel,  an  excellent  clay,  no  better  in  the 
w^orld,  exceeding  good  for  pots,  and  it  will  wash 
like  soap;  we  have  the  best  water  that  ever  we 
drank,  and  the  brooks  will  soon  be  full  of  fish."t 

So  runs  the  journal  of  the  Pilgrims.  Hopeful 
and  thankful  for  what  they  had,  they  seemed  anx- 
ious to  be  pleased,  and  to  make  the  best  even  of 

*  One  of  these  was  Clarke's  Island ;  the  other  was  probably 
Saquish  Penmsula. 

t  Young's  Chronicles.     Journal  of  the  Pilgrims 


THE  PILGRIM  SETTLEMENT.  93 

their  ills.     It  was  in  no  sour  and  bitter  sjoirit  that 
they 

' '  Leaned  their  cheeks  against  the  thick-ribbed  ice, 
And  looked  tap  with  devout  eyes  to  Him 
"Who  bade  them  bloom,  unblanched,  amid  the  waste 
Of  desolation." 

After  all,  perhaps  it  was  well  even  for  their  pres- 
ent safety  that  they  had  landed  on  the  bleak  New 
England  strand.  "  Had  they  been  carried,  accord- 
ing to  their  desire,  unto  Hudson's  river,"  says  Cot- 
ton Mather,  "  the  Indians  in  those  parts  were  at 
this  time  so  many  and  so  mighty  and  so  sturdy, 
that  in  probability  all  this  feeble  number  of  Chris- 
tians had  been  massacred  by  the  bloody  savages, 
as  not  long  after  some  others  were ;  whereas  the 
good  hand  of  God  now  brought  them  to  a  country 
wonderfully  prepared  for  their  entertainment  by  a 
sweeping  mortality  that  had  lately  been  among  the 
natives.  '  We  have  heard  with  our  ears,  O  God, 
our  fathers  have  told  us,  what  work  thou  didst  in 
their  days,  in  the  times  of  old ;  how  thou  dravest 
out  the  heathen  with  thy  hand,  and  plantedst 
them ;  how  thou  didst  afflict  the  people,  and  cast 
them  out.'  The  Indians  in  these  parts  had  newly, 
even  about  a  year  or  two  before,  been  visited  with 
such  a  prodigious  pestilence,  as  carried  away  not  a 
tenth,  but  nine  parts  of  ten ;  yea,  't  is  said,  nineteen 
of  twenty  among  them ;  so  that  the  woods  were 
almost  cleared  to  make  room  for  a  better  growth. 

"  It  is  remarkable  that  a  Frenchman,  who,  not 
long  before  the  Pilgrim  settlement,  had  by  a  ship- 


94:  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEES, 

wreck  been  made  captive  among  the  Indians  of 
New  England,  did,  as  the  survivors  report,  just  be- 
fore he  died  in  their  hands,  tell  these  tawny  pagans 
that  '  God,  being  angry  with  them  for  their  wicked- 
ness, would  not  only  destroy  them  all,  but  also  peo- 
jjle  the  place  with  another  nation,  which  would  not 
live  after  their  brutish  manner.'  Those  infidels 
then  blasphemously  said, '  God  could  not  kill  them,' 
which  was  confuted  by  a  horrible  and  unusual 
plague,  whereby  they  were  consumed  in  such  vast 
multitudes,  that  our  first  ancestors  found  the  land 
almost  covered  with  their  unburied  carcasses;  and 
they  that  were  alive  were  smitten  into  awful  and 
humble  regard  of  the  English  by  the  terrors  which 
the  remembrance  of  the  Frenchman's  prophecy  had 
imprinted  on  them."^" 

During  the  first  few  months  of  their  wilderness 
life,  little  occurred  of  special  public  interest  among 
the  Pilgrims.  The  routine  of  their  days  was  undis- 
turbed. Engrossed  by  the  pressing  present  duties 
of  the  hour,  they  labored  to  complete  their  prej^a- 
rations  for  the  winter.  Their  existence  was  that 
which  is  common  in  all  pioneer  settlements,  which 
has  been  led  a  thousand  times  since  on  our  west- 
ern prairies,  and  which  is  led  to-day  by  the  settler 
who  rears  his  log-cabin  under  the  shadow  of  the 
Kocky  mountains. 

The  country  seemed  lonely  and  monotonous.f 
"Among  the  few  recorded  incidents,"  says  Elliot, 

*  Cotton  Mather,  Magnalia,  vol.  1,  p.  51. 
t  Ibid.,  Elliot,  Felt. 


THE  PILGRIM  SETTLEMENT.  95 

"  we  gather  here  and  there  some  facts  which  serve 
to  ilhistrate  the  social  and  moral  condition  of  the 
exiles  during  these  initial  months  of  their  western 
life.  On  the  21st  of  January-,  1621,  they  celebrated 
public  worship  for  the  first  time  on  shore.  On  the 
17th  of  Eebruarj,  Standish  was  chosen  captain,  and 
all  were  arranged  in  military  orders.  This  may  be 
called  their  first  legislative  act,  the  first  communal 
life  of  men  who  believed  in  and  were  forced  to  act 
out  the  principle  of  self-government;  every  man 
could  vote,  and  the  ballot  of  the  lowest  colonist 
counted  the  same  as  Governor  Carver's.  Births 
and  deaths  varied  the  monotony  of  existence.  Per- 
egrine White,  the  first  born  in  New  England,  had 
appeared  in  November,  and  six  persons  had  died  in 
December,  among  whom  was  Dorothy,  Bradford's 
wife,  who  was  drowned.  This  was  the  beginning 
of  a  mortahty  which  carried  dismay  and  destruc- 
tion into  the  weakened  ranks."* 

Measures  were  taken  for  the  military  protection 
of  the  colony.  "  A  minion,  a  saker,  and  two  other 
guns,  were  mounted  on  Fort  Hill,"  where  a  block- 
citadel  had  been  erected.f  Standish  was  the  heau 
ideal  of  a  soldier — alert,  provident,  tireless.  The 
words  which  Longfellow,  has  put  into  his  mouth 
exhibit   his   genial  humor  and  quaint  wisdom  : 

"  '  Serve  yourself,  wonlcl  you  be  well  served,  is  an  excellent  adage; 
So  I  take  care  of  my  arms,  as  scribes  of  their  pens  and  their 
ink-horns. 

»  Elliot,  p.  67. 

t  Ibid.     Journal  of  the  Pilgrims.     Young,  Bradford. 


96  THE  PILGRIM  FATHEES. 

Then,  too,  tliere  are  my  soldiers,  my  great,  invincible  anny, 
Twelve  men,  all  equiiDped,  having  each  his  rest  and  his  match- 
lock, 
Eighteen  shillings  a  mouth,  together  with  diet  and  pillage. 
And,  like  Cfesar,  I  know  the  name  of  each  of  my  soldiers.' 
This  he  said  with  a  smile,  that  danced  in  his  eyes,  as  the  sun- 
beams 
Dance  on  the  waves  of  the  sea,  and  vanish  again  in  a  moment."* 

The  peculiar  situation  of  the  Pilgrims  tended  to 
increase  that  rugged  individuality,  that  self-confi- 
dent earnestness,  that  somewhat  dogmatic  vigor, 
which  already  characterized  them,  and  which  is 
stiU  a  salient  trait  of  their  descendants.  There 
they  stood  on  a  bleak  and  desolate  shore ;  be- 
reaved of  sympathy  at  home,  without  friends  in  the 
wilderness,  "  with  none  to  show  them  kindness  or 
to  bid  them  w^elcome."  The  nearest  French  settle- 
ment was  at  Port  Eoyal ;  it  was  five  hundred  miles 
and  more  of  trackless  forest  to  the  Enghsh  planta- 
tion of  Virginia.f  The  exiles  were  obliged  to  be 
self-centred ;  cut  off  from  the  outer  world  and  iso- 
lated, they  could  entertain  no  friends  but  God  and 
each  other. 

We  can  hardly  be  sufl&ciently  thankful  for  the 
singular  combination  of  circumstances  which  pro- 
duced the  Plymouth  settlement  in  1620.  "Had 
New  England  been  colonized  immediately  on  the 
discovery  of  the  American  continent,  the  old  Eng- 
lish institutions  would  have  been  planted  under  the 
powerful  influence  of  the  Koman  religion  ;  had  the 
settlement  been  made  under  EHzabeth,  it  would 

-  Longfellow's  Miles  Standish,  p.  11. 
t  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  p.  310. 


THE  PILGEIM  SETTLEMENT.  97 

have  been  before  activity  of  the  pubKc  mind  in 
rehgion  had  conducted  to  a  corresponding  activity  of 
mind  in  pohtics."  God  builded  better  than  men 
knew ;  and  when  the  time  was  ripe,  he  chose  "  the 
Pilgrims,  Enghshmen,  Protestants,  exiles  for  reli- 
gion, men  disciplined  by  misfortune,  cultivated  by 
opportunities  of  extensive  observation,  equal  in  rank 
as  in  rights,  bound  by  no  code  but  that  of  religion 
and  the  public  will,"*  and  with  these  elements  He 
j)lanted  a  model  state,  and  bade  it  grow  into  a  dem- 
ocratic, Christian  commonwealth,  that  it  might  be 
at  once  an  exemplar  and  a  benefactor  to  mankind. 
The  Pilgrims  cheerfully  accepted  peril  and  dis- 
comfort to  build  such  a  state.  Peace  under  liberty — 
sub  libei'tcde  quietem — this  was  their  aspiration,  and 
they  said, 

"We  ask  a  shrine  for  faith  and  simple  prayer, 
''  Freedom's  sweet  waters,  and  untainted  air.  "f 

«  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  p.  308. 

f  "Exiguam  sedem  sacris,  litusqne  rogamus 

Innocuum,  et  cunctis  nndamque  ;  auramque  ;  patentem." 
Cotton  Mather,  Magnalia,  vol.  1,  p.  52. 


PUsrim  Fatlieia 


98  THE  PILGKIM  FATHEKS. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

PIONEER   LIFE. 

' '  E'en  the  best  must  own, 
Patience  and  resignation  are  the  pillars 
Of  human  peace  on  earth. " 

Young,  Night  Thoughts. 

Happily,  God  blessed  the  Pilgrims  with  an 
early  and  mild  spring,*  By  the  middle  of  March 
the  birds  began  to  sing;  the  streams  shook  off 
their  icy  cerements ;  the  rills  ran  laughing  to  the 
sea ;  Nature  put  on  her  gala  drapery ;  the  myriad 
wild  flowers  opened  their  drowsy  eyes ;  the  time 
had  come  for  the  ever-marvellous  resurrection  of 
the  year.  The  forests  seemed  instinct  with  life. 
On  every  hill-side  nature  hymned  her  praise. 

The  settlers  shared  in  the  buoyant  and  joyous 
feeling.  They  had  met  and  mastered  the  New 
England  winter.  Their  houses  were  built.  Their 
family  arrangements  were  completed ;  and  now 
"the  fair,  warm  days"  of  sj)ring,  the  idyl  of  the 
year,  were  a  harbinger  of  hope. 

Careful  and  provident,  the  Pilgrims  improved 
this  delightful  weather  in  planting.  "  On  the  19th 
and  20th  of  March,"  says  the  old  chronicler,  "  we 
digged  our  grounds  and  sowed  our  garden-seed."t 
This  done,  individual  members  of  the  community 

»  Bancroft,  Banvard,  Elliot,  Felt. 
t  Journal  of  the  Pilgrims. 


I 


PIONEER  LIFE.  99 

began  to  stray  into  the  bordering  forest,  incited 
thereto  partly  by  natural  curiosity  to  familiarize 
themselves  with  the  salient  local  features  of  their 
wilderness  homes,  and  partly  by  the  pursuit  of 
game.  Sometimes  the  tyro  hunters  were  startled 
by  strange  sights  and  noises ;  for  to  them  the  dim, 
still  woods  were  a  mysterj'-.  "John  Goodman  was 
much  frightened  this  day" — so  runs  the  entry  in 
the  Journal  on  one  occasion  —  "he  went  abroad 
for  a  little  walk  with  his  spaniel.  Suddenly  two 
great  wolves  ran  after  the  dog,  which  ran  to  him 
and  betwixt  his  legs  for  succor.  He,  having  noth- 
ing with  him,  threw  a  stick  at  one  of  them,  and  hit 
him,  and  they  presently  both  ran  away;  but  they 
came  again.  He  got  a  plain  board  in  his  hand,  and 
they  sat  both  on  their  tails  grinning  at  him  a  good 
time.  At  last  they  went  their  way  and  left  him. 
He  could  not  move  fast,  as  he  had  lame  feet."* 

On  another  occasion  a  storm  is  recorded :  "  At 
one  o'clock  it  thundered.  The  birds  sang  most 
pleasantly  before  this.  The  thunder  was  strong, 
and  in  great  claps,  followed  by  rain  very  sadly  till 
midnight."t 

Thus  far  they  had  seen  no  Indians  since  land- 
ing at  Plymouth.  Traces  of  them  abounded.  Pale 
wreaths  of  smoke,  which  curled  above  the  forest- 
trees,  gave  certain  token  that  they  lurked  in  the 
vicinity.  The  settlers  knew  that  they  must  ere  long 
meet  the  aborigines,  and  they  awaited  the  event 
with  mingled  hope  and  apprehension. 

*  Young's  Chron.  of  the  Pilg's.    Pilgrims'  Joi^r.  f  Ibid. 


100  THE  PILGKIM  FATHEES. 

On  the  16tli  of  March,  one  of  the  warmest,  pleas- 
antest  days  of  the  early  spring,  a  number  of  the 
Pilgrims — Bradford,  Winslow,  Hopkins,  and  Car- 
ver, among  the  rest — were  gathered  on  the  skirts  of 
the  settlement,  chatting  over  their  plans  and  proj- 
ects for  the  coming  days,  when  suddenly  a  guttural 
shout  was  heard,  and  the  words  "  Welcome,  English- 
men f"  spoken  in  broken  Saxon,  fell  on  their  ears.* 

The  astonished  settlers  started  to  their  feet,  and 
glancing  in  the  direction  whence  the  words  had 
seemed  to  come,  discerned  on  the  edge  of  the  forest 
a  single  dusky  figure,  waving  a  hand  and  advancing 
boldly  towards  them.  In  deep  silence  the  Pilgrims 
awaited  his  approach.  On  reaching  the  group,  the 
Indian  greeted  them  warmly,  repeating  his  welcome. 
Keassured  by  his  friendly  gestures  and  hearty  rep- 
etition of  the  familiar  English  phrase  in  Avhicli  only 
kindness  lurked,  the  settlers  cordially  returned  his 
greeting;  and  knowing  that  the  way  to  the  heart 
lies  through  the  stomach,  they  at  once  gave  their 
dusky  guest  "strong  water, ^biscuit,  butter,  cheese, 
and  some  pudding,  with  a  j^iece  of  mallard."t 

The  heart  of  the  savage  was  gained;  the  taci- 
turnity characteristic  of  his  race  gave  way,  and  he 
told  his  entertainers  many  things  which  they  had 
long  desired  to  know. 

They  ascertained  that  he  was  a  chief  of  a  tribe 
of  Indians  whose  hunting-grounds  were  distant  five 
days'  journey;  that  the  country  in  their  vicinity  was 
called  Pawtuxet ;  that  some  years  previous  a  pesti- 

*  Bradford,  Young,  Pilgrims'  Journal.  t  Ibid. 


PIONEEE  LIFE.  lUl 

lence  had  swept  off  the  tribes  that  inhabited  the 
district,  so  that  none  remained  to  claim  the  soil. 

When  asked  how  he  came  to  speak  English,  he 
replied  that  he  had  picked  np  what  little  he  knew 
from  the  fishermen  who  frequented  the  coast  of 
Maine.  In  response  to  inquiries  concerning  the 
interior  of  the  countr}^  and  the  tribes  inhabiting 
the  inland  plateaus,  he  imparted  valuable  informa- 
tion.* 

The  Pilgrims  gleaned  these  facts  from  his  reci- 
tal :  A  sagamore  named  Massasoit  was  their  nearest 
powerful  neighbor.  He  was  disposed  to  be  friendly ; 
but  another  tribe,  called  the  Nausets,  Avere  greatly- 
incensed  against  the  English,  and  with  sufficient 
cause.  It  seems  that  a  caj^tain  by  the  name  of 
Hunt,  who  had  been  left  in  charge  of  a  vessel  by 
Captain  Smith  in  1614,  had  lured  twenty  or  thirty 
of  their  brother  red  men  on  board  his  ship  on  pre- 
tence of  trading;  then,  when  they  accepted  his  invi- 
tation, he  set  sail  for  Spain,  where  he  sold  his  vic- 
tims into  slavery.f 

The  whole  Nauset  tribe  panted  to  avenge  the 
atrocious  treachery  of  "  this  wretched  man,  who 
cared  not  what  mischief  he  did  for  his  profit;"  and 
it  was  with  them  that  the  Pilgrims  had  had  their 
skirmish  when  exploring  the  coast  in  the  December 
sleet.  ^ 

The  Indian  from  whose  broken  English  these 
things  were  learned  was  Samoset.  He  was  the  first 
of  the  aborigines  who  held  friendly  and  intelligent 
*  Bradford,  Youug.        f  Ibid.     Pilgrims'  Journal.         }  Ibid. 


102  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEES. 

intercourse  with  the  forefathers.  His  frank,  hearty 
"  welcome"  was  the  only  one  the  Pilgrims  received  ; 
and  his  faithful,  life-long  attachment  to  the  English 
interests,  which  "  made  him  often  go,  in  danger  of 
his  life,  among  his  countrymen,"  won  the  grateful 
recognition  of  the  exiles,  and  deserves  the  plaudits 
of  posterity. 

Samoset  was  the  first  Indian  whom  many  of  the 
Pilgrims  had  ever  seen.  He  was  therefore  scan- 
ned with  no  little  curiosity.  He  is  thus  described 
in  the  Journal  of  the  Pilgrims :  "  He  was  a  man 
free  in  speech  ;  a  tall,  straight  man  ;  the  hair  of  his 
head  black,  long  behind,  short  before,  and  no  beard. 
He  was  stark  naked,  save  only  a  strip  of  leather 
about  his  waist,  with  a  fringe  a  span  long  or  a  little 
more.  He  had  a  bow  and  two  arrows,  the  one 
headed,  the  other  not."^^ 

The  settlers  treated  Samoset  with  great  hospi- 
tality, as  duty  and  sound  policy  alike  demanded. 
Nevertheless,  when  night  came  they  desired  him  to 
leave.  This  he  seemed  loath  to  do.  They  proposed 
that  he  should  lodge  on  board  the  "  Mayflower." 
He  assented  ;  but  the  tide  was  so  low  and  the  wind 
was  so  fresh,  that  the  shallop  could  not  gain  the 
vessel's  side.  Nothing  remained  but  to  entertain 
their  guest  on  shore.  He  was  conducted  to  the 
house  of  Stephen  Hopkins,t  and  was  stealthily 
watched,  "  as  we  feared  evil,"  comments  the  narra- 
tor;  "which,  however,  did  not  come.".t 

■"'  Pilgrims'  Jourual.  f  Elliot,  vol.  1,  p.  71. 

t  Pilgi'ims'  Journal. 


PIONEER  LIFE.  103 

On  the  following  morning,  Samoset  quitted  Plj^m- 
outh,  carrying  with  him  a  variety  of  presents,  a  knife, 
a  bracelet,  a  ring ;  and  he  promised  to  return  soon 
and  bring  with  him  some  of  Massasoit's  Indians,  to 
open  a  trade  in  furs  with  the  colonists.'^  He  also 
said  that  he  would  do  his  utmost  towards  securing 
an  interview  between  the  English  and  the  Indian 
sagamore,  as  preliminary  to  a  lasting  treaty  and  a 
prosperous  peace.f 

Samoset,  true  to  his  promise,  did  indeed  return 
within  three  days,  bringing  with  him  five  compan- 
ions. All  Avere  cordially  welcomed ;  but  as  it  was  Sun- 
day, no  business  was  transacted,  the  guests  being 
dismissed  as  early  as  possible.  Samoset  remained  at 
Plymouth ;  his  friends  affirmed  their  purpose  to  come 
again  on  the  morrow.  The  morrow  came  but  the 
Indians  did  not.  Samoset  was  sent  in  quest  of 
them.  The  next  day  he  returned  again,  this  time 
with  four  other  warriors,  each  provided  with  a  few 
skins  and  dried  herrings,  which  they  were  anxious 
to  barter. 

One  of  these  Indians  was  named  Squanto.  His 
history  was  somewhat  romantic.  He  belonged  to 
the  company  kidnapped  by  Hunt  and  sold  in 
Spain.  There  he,  with  the  others,  had  been  libera- 
ted through  the  exertions  of  the  monks  of  Malaga, 
and  he  had  made  his  way  to  England.  He, dwelt 
in  Cornhill,  London,  with  an  English  merchant,  for 
some  time;  and  thence  he  had  finally  made  his 
way  back  to  his  forest  home,  to  be,  as  the  event 

*  Bradford,  Young.  \  Ibid.     Banvard. 


104  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

proved,  a  valuable  friend,  interpreter,  and  ally  to 
the  whites.* 

Samoset  and  his  friends  were  but  the  advance 
guard  of  a  larger  host.  An  hour  later,  Massasoit 
himself  appeared  on  a  neighboring  slope,  accompa- 
nied by  his  brother,  Quadequina,  and  a  cloud  of 
warriors.  At  the  outset  both  Englishman  and  In- 
dian were  shy  of  each  other;  but  at  last,  after  much 
passing  to  and  fro,  they  came  to  parley.  Massasoit 
and  Standish  saluted  each  other ;  after  which  the 
soldier  conducted  the  sachem  to  an  unfinished  house 
in  the  vicinage,  where  he  laid  for  his  guest  a  green 
rug  and  four  cushions. t 

Presently  the  Pilgrim  governor  advanced,  in  as 
great  state  as  he  could  command,  with  beat  of  drum 
and  blare  of  trumpet,  and  a  squad  of  armed  men 
as  a  body-guard.  Salutations,  which  consisted  of 
mutual  kisses,  being  over,  the  governor  and  the  sag- 
amore seated  themselves.  Meat  was  then  served, 
and  the  new  friends  drank  to  each  other's  health 
and  happiness.:]: 

*  Bancroft,  Elliot,  Banvard. 

f  Biiidford,  Pilgrims'  Journal. 

"On  the  22d  of  March,  the  first  interview  took  place  between 
the  Pilgrims  and  the  Indians,  with  their  great  chief  Massasoit, 
Squanto  acting  as  interpreter.  This  was  conducted  becomingly 
on  both  sides,  and  according  to  the  manner  of  the  time.  After 
Gov.  Carver  had  drunk  some  'strong  water' — rum — to  the  sachem, 
Massasoit  'drunk  a  great  draught  that  made  him  sweat  all  the 
while  after.'  The  result  of  the  conference  was  an  alliance,  offen- 
sive and  defensive,  between  the  governor  and  the  chief,  applauded 
by  the  followers  of  both,  and  Massasoit  was  received  as  an  ally  of  the 
dread  King  James."     Elliot,  vol.  1,  p.  72. 

X  Young's  Chronicles,  Pilgrims'  Journal. 


PIONEER  LIFE.  105 

Negotiations  ensued;  and  "  a  treaty  of  friendship 
was  soon  completed  in  few  and  unequivocal  terms. 
The  respective  parties  promised  to  abstain  from 
mutual  injuries,  and  to  deliver  up  offenders ;  the 
colonists  were  to  receive  assistance  if  attacked ;  to 
render  it,  if  Massasoit  should  be  assailed  unjustly. 
The  treaty  included  the  confederates  of  the  sachem  : 
it  is  the  oldest  act  of  diplomacy  recorded  in  New 
England ;  it  was  concluded  in  a  day,  and,  being 
founded  on  reciprocal  interests,  was  sacredly  kept 
for  more  than  half  a  century.  Massasoit  desired 
the  alliance,  for  the  powerful  Narragansetts  were 
his  enemies;  his  tribe,  moreover,  having  become 
habituated  to  some  English  luxuries,  were  willing 
to  establish  a  traffic ;  while  the  emigrants  obtained 
peace,  security,  and  the  opportunity  of  a  lucrative 
commerce.""' 

Massasoit  is  thus  described  by  the  Pilgrim  jour- 
nalist :  "  In  his  person  he  is  a  very  lusty  man,  in 
his  best  years,  an  able  body,  grave  of  countenance, 
and  spare  of  speech  ;  in  his  attire  little  or  nothing 
differing  from  the  rest  of  his  followers,  save  only  in 
a  oreat  chain  of  white  beads  about  his  neck ;  be- 
hind  his  neck,  attached  to  the  chain,  hangs  a 
pouch  of  tobacco,  which  he  smoked,  and  gave  us 
to  smoke.  His  face  was  painted  with  a  seal  red, 
and  he  was  oiled  both  head  and  face  that  he  looked 
greasily."t 

The  sagamore's  favorite  haunts  were  along  the 
northern    shores    of   Narragansett    Bay,   between 

*  Bancroft,  p.  317.  t  Pilgrims'  Journal,  p.  58. 

5* 


106  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

Taunton  and  Providence,  one  of  Lis  principal  seats 
being  Mount  Hope,*  that 

"thi-one  of  royal  state,  whicli  far 

Outshone  the  wealth  of  Ormus  or  of  Ind, 

Or  where  the  gorgeous  east,  with  richest  hand, 

Showers  on  her  kings  barbaric  pomp  and  gold." 

In  the  latter  part  of  March,  1621,  an  event  oc- 
curred which  evinced  alike  the  promptitude  and  the 
decision  of  the  self-governed  Puritan  colony.  It  has 
been  said  that  '*  God  sifted  three  kingdoms  to  get 
the  Pilgrim  wheat"  of  the  New  England  enterprise; 
yet  despite  this  care  the  chaff  was  not  all  gotten 
rid  of.  It  seems  that  one  John  Billington,  a  "lewd 
fellow  of  the  baser  sort,"  had  come  fi'om  London 
and  smuggled  himself  on  board  the  "  Mayflower," 
for  the  purpose  of  stealing  a  voyage  to  the  new 
world.  He  had  no  sympathy  with  the  religious  feel- 
ings of  the  Pilgrims,  nor  did  he  share  their  love  of 
order  and  civil  liberty.f  He  had  frequently  given 
offence,  and  now  he  was  convicted  of  "  contempt  of 
the  captain's  lawful  command,  and  of  making  op- 
probious  speeches.":}:  His  sentence  was  peculiar : 
"  he  was  to  have  his  neck  and  heels  tied  together."§ 
He  begged  so  hard  that  he  was  forgiven  on  this  oc- 
casion ;  but  he  continued  to  be  a  profane,  ungov- 
ernable, vicious  knave,  and  finally  came  to  a  bad 
end. 

At  about  this  same  time  another  offence  was 

committed  against  the  civil  peace  of  the  colony. 

Two  servants  of  Stephen  Hopkins  met  and  fought 

*  EUiot,  p.  73.  f  Bancroft,  Pilgrims'  Journal.  ' 

t  Ibid.  §  Ibid. 


PIONEEE  LIFE.  107 

a  duel  with  sword  and  dagger.  Both  combatants 
were  wounded ;  but  they  were  immediately  seized, 
convicted,  and  sentenced  "  to  have  their  head  and 
feet  tied  together,  and  so  to  lie  for  twenty-four  hours 
without  meat  or  drink."* 

The  hostile  lackeys  were  bound,  in  exact  ac- 
cordance with  the  verdict ;  but  "  after  lying  an 
hour  they  begged  piteously  for  mercy ;  whereon  the 
governor,  on  the  entreaty  of  their  master,  released 
them,  they  promising  to  keep  the  peace  in  future."t 

These  sentences  convinced  the  refractory  that 
the  colonial  government  was  something  more  than 
the  shadow  of  a  name ;  and  it  held  them  in  awe 
of  provoking  its  severity. 

Through  all  these  months  disease  was  busy 
among  the  Pilgrims.  But  though  pain  racked  many 
a  weakened  form,  no  one  spoke  of  returning  to  Eng- 
land. As  winter  faded  into  spring  the  mortality 
became  dreadful.     Every  house  was  a  hospital. 

' '  There  was  no  hearthstone,  howsoe'er  defended, 
But  had  one  vacant  chair." 

"Death,"  says  Elliot,  "had  reaped  a  ripe,  fat 
harvest,  and  of  the  one  hundred  scarce  fifty  re- 
mained. Six  had  died  in  December ;  eight  in  Jan- 
uary; seventeen  in  February ;  thirteen  in  March.":!: 
Yet  the  Pilgrims  kissed  the  rod ;  and  though  "  the 
searching  sharpness  of  that  pure  climate  had 
crept  into  the  crevices  of  their  crazed  bodies,  caus- 
ing death,"§   they  said  "the  Lord  gave  and  the 

"  Pilgrims'  Journal,  t  Banvard. 

X  Elliot,  p.  74:.  §  Bradford's  Journal. 


108  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEKS. 

Lord  liatli  taken  away ;  blessed  be  the  name  of  the 
Lord." 

The  dead  were  buried  in  a  bank,  at  a  little  dis- 
tance from  Plymouth  rock ;  and  lest  the  Indians 
should  learn  the  weakened  condition  of  the  colony, 
the  graves  were  levelled,  and  sown  with  grass.* 
Over  these  the  unflinching  survivors  locked  hands, 
and  wiping  their  eyes,  looked  up,  firm,  devout,  hope- 
ful as  ever. 

In  April,  1621,  Governor  Carver  died.  "  Whilst 
they  were  busy  about  their  seed,  he  came  out  of  the 
field  very  sick,  it  being  a  hot  day.  He  complained 
greatly  of  his  head,  and  lay  down ;  within  a  few 
hours  his  senses  failed,  and  he  never  spoke  more. 
His  death  was  much  lamented,  and  caused  great 
heaviness,  as  there  was  cause."t  Shortly  after, 
William  Bradford,  the  historian  of  the  colony,  was 
elected  governor,  "and  being  not  j-et  recovered  from 
a  severe  illness,  in  which  he  had  been  near  the  point 
of  death,  Isaac  Allerton  was  chosen  to  be  an  assist- 
ant unto  him.":]: 

On  the  very  day  of  Carver's  death,  the  5tli  of 
April,  the  "  Mayflower"  sailed  for  England.§  Not 
a  soul  returned  in  her  of  that  devoted  band.  It  has 
been  well  said  that  the  departure  of  the  "May- 
flower" surpasses  in  dignity,  though  not  in  despera- 
tion, the  burning  of  his  shif)s  by  Cortez.  Through 
the  struggles  of  the  winter  she  had  always  been  in 

*  Holmes'  Annals,  Thatcher's  Plymouth,  p.  37. 
t  Bradford,  Hist.  PlJ^nouth  Plantation,  p.  101. 
t  Ibid.  §  Holmes,  Thatcher,  Elliot,  etc. 


PIONEER  LIFE.  109 

sight,  a  place  of  refuge  and  relief  in  any  desperate 

emergenc}^     While  the  good  ship  lay  moored  in 

Plymouth  harbor,  they  had  a  hold  upon  the  outer 

world.     But  now,  as  grouped  upon  the  shore  they 

stood  and  watched  her,  as  she  sloAvly  spread  her 

sails  and  crept  out  of  the  bay  and  from  their  sight, 

they  felt  inexpressibly  dreary  and  bereaved :  when 

the  sun  set  in  the  western  forest,  the  "  Mayflower" 

had  disappeared  in  the  distant  blue.* 

"  Can  ye  scan  the  woe 
That  wi-mgs  their  bosoms,  as  this  last  frail  link 
Binding  to  man  and  habitable  earth 
Is  severed.?   Can  ye  tell  what  jjangs  were  there, 
What  keen  regrets,  what  siclaiess  of  the  heart, 
What  yearning  o'er  their  forfeit  land  of  birth  ; 
Their  distant  dear  ones?"f 

But  they  did  not  long  despair.  "  The  sky  Avas 
not  inky,  nor  their  future  desperate,"  says  Elliot ; 
"  the  sun  still  shone  gloriously ;  the  moon  still  bathed 
the  earth  with  light ;  and  the  stars  kept  their  cease- 
less vigils.  Spring  here,  as  of  old,  followed  winter, 
the  murmuring  of  streams  was  heard,  and  the  song 
of  the  turtle;  birds  builded  their  nests,  the  tender 
grass  sj)rang  up  under  their  feet,  and  the  trees  bud- 
ded and  burst  forth  in  wondrous  beauty.  God  was 
over  all — God,  their  God,  their  Friend — their  pro- 
tector here  as  in  the  older  world;  nay,  more  their 
helper  now  than  ever  before,"!  for  they  were  the 
orphans  of  humanity. 

«  Elliot,  p.  75.  t  Sigourney.  t  Elliot,  ut  antea. 


110  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 


CHAPTER   YIII. 

THE   FIRST   SUMMER  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

"  The  spring's  gay  promise  melted  into  thee, 
Fair  summer  ;  and  thy  gentle  reign  is  here  ; 
Thy  emerald  robes  are  on  each  leafy  tree  ; 

In  the  blue  sky  thy  voice  is  rich  and  clear ; 
And  the  free  brooks  have  songs  to  bless  thy  reign — 
They  leap  in  music  'mids^  thy  bright  domain. " 

Wiiiis  G.  Clark. 

God  lias  transmuted  tlie  primal  curse  into  a 
blessing.  Labor  is  a  panacea  for  many  ills ;  and 
now  the  fullness  of  their  new  life  crowded  out  home- 
sickness and  all  fainting  of  the  heart  among  the  Pil- 
grim exiles.  They  had  no  time  for  dreams.  The 
weighty  cares  of  the  present  exorcised  every  fever- 
ed phantom  of  regret  and  apprehension. 

Swiftly  and  pleasantly  in  the  manifold  employ- 
ments of  the  field  passed  the  glowing,  pregnant 
spring.  The  exiles  knew  that  they  were  set  to  sub- 
due the  wilderness,  to  marry  the  continent  with 
roads,  to  dot  the  forests  with  schools  and  churches 
and  hamlets.  Daily  and  nightly  they  invoked  God's 
blessing  on  their  infant  colony;  and  with  God's  kiss 
upon  their  brows,  they  toiled  in  the  full  assurance 
of  success — they  knew  that  hoj)e  would  be  changed 
to  full  fruition. 

Thus  far  they  had  experienced  no  lack  of  food. 
The  variety  afforded  by  wild  fowl,  fish,  and  the  na- 


THE  FIEST  SUMMER.  HI 

tive  fruits,  together  witli  the  stores  which  they  had 
brought  with  them  in  the  "  Mayflower,"  amply  suf- 
ficed to  supply  the  cravings  of  hunger.*  For  the 
future  the  presage  was  good.  The  crops  promised 
well.  Six  acres  had  been  sown  with  pease  and  bar- 
ley. Twenty  acres  had  been  planted  with  the  seed- 
corn  which  it  had  been  the  good  fortune  of  the 
exiles  to  dig  out  of  the  subterranean  Indian  store- 
houses ;t  this  Squanto,  the  friendly  Indian  inter- 
preter, had  instructed  them  how  to  sow  and  hill  and 
manure  with  fish.:]: 

"Like  the  swell  of  some  sweet  tune, 
Morning  rises  into  noon, 
May  glides  onward  into  June;" 

and  as  the  season  advanced,  native  grapes  and 
berries  were  found  in  endless  variety  and  inex- 
haustible abundance.  The  Pilgrim  journalist  also 
records  that  wild-flowers  of  various  hues  and  "  very 
sweet"  fragrance  contributed  their  beauty  and  in- 
cense to  the  charming  suuimer  scene. § 

"  A  visitor  to  Plymouth,  in  this  first  summer  of 
the  Puritan  settlement,  as  he  landed  on  the  south- 
ern side  of  a  high  bluff,  would  have  seen,  standing 
between  it 'and  a  rapid  little  stream,  a  rude  log- 
house,  twenty  feet  square,  containing  the  common 
property  of  the  plantation.  Proceeding  up  a  gentle 
acclivity  between  two  rows  of  log-cabins,  nineteen 
in  number,  some  of  them  perhaps  vacant  since  the 

*  Bradford,  Young,  Thatcher. 

f  Pilgrims'  Journal.     Winslow.  %  Ibid. 

§  Pilgrims'  Jou.rnal. 


112  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

death  of  their  first  tenants,  he  would  have  come  to 
a  hill,  encircled  by  a  plank  platform  for  cannon. 
And  glancing  thence  over  the  landscape,  he  might 
have  counted  twenty  men  at  work  with  hoes  in  the 
enclosures  about  the  huts,  or  fishing  in  the  shallow 
harbor,  or  visiting  the  woods  or  the  beach  for  game ; 
while  six  or  eight  women  were  busy  in  household 
affairs,  and  some  twenty  children,  from  infancy  up- 
ward, completed  the  domestic  picture."* 

The  month  of  June  found  the  colonists  so  far 
advanced  in  the  necessary  labors  of  the  season, 
that  they  gained  a  little  leisure  to  open  the  volume 
of  local  nature,  and  to  scan  its  pages  more  accu- 
rately than  had  been  possible  in  the  haste  of  the 
initial  December  days. 

Many  a  lesson  was  taken  by  the  wondering  set- 
tlers in  New  England  forestry  under  the  skilful 
tuition  of  Squanto  or  Samoset.  "  Once,"  sajs  the 
quaint  old  record,  "  a  party  of  us  got  belated  in  the 
forest,  where  the  night  was  spent ;  in  the  morning, 
wandering  from  the  track,  we  were  shrewdly  puz- 
zled, and  lost  the  way.  As  we  wandered,  we  came 
to  a  tree,  where  a  young  sprit  was  bowed  down  over 
a  bow,  and  some  acorns  strewed  underneath ;  Ste- 
phen Hopkins  said  it  had  been  fixed  to  catch  deer; 
so  as  we  were  looking  at  it,  William  Bradford  being 
in  the  rear,  when  he  came  up  looked  also  upon  it, 
and  as  he  went  about,  it  gave  a  sudden  jerk  up,  so 
that  he  was  immediately  caught  fast  by  the  leg. 
It  was  a  very  pretty  device,  made  with  a  rope  of 

*  Palfrey,  Hist.  New  England,  vol.  1,  p.  182. 


THE  FIEST  SUMMEE.  113 

tlieir  own  making,  and  having  a  noose  as  artificially 
fixed  as  any  roper  in  England  could  make,  and  as 
like  ours  as  can  be :  this  we  brought  away  with 
us."*  This  was  a  pleasant  jest  to  the  hunters,  in 
which  the  gi-avest  of  them  doubtless  indulged  in  a 
laugh  at  their  too  curious  governor,  thus  caught  in 
the  Indian  deer-trap.  The  hint,  however,  was  well 
worth  tlieir  study ;  and  often  afterw^ards  it  served 
them  a  good  turn,  ere  their  ringing  axes  frightened 
the  timid  deer  into  following  the  dusky  native  hunt- 
ers beyond  the  encroaching  and  ever-widening  cir- 
cle of  civilization. 

To  increase  the  general  stock  of  information, 
and  to  relieve  the  routine  tedium  of  the  settlement, 
several  expeditions  were  planned  during  this  first 
summer ;  and  these  looked  into  the  continent  a  few 
miles  distant  in  the  east,  the  north,  and  the  west.t 
The  first  of  them  took  the  shape  of  an  embassy 
to  Massasoit.  As  the  warm  weather  brought  the 
Indians  to  the  seashore  in  search  of  lobsters  and 
to  fish,  they  proved  to  be  a  sad  annoyance  to  the 
colonists.  They  were  treated  with  uniform  cour- 
tesy, and  this  kindness  furnished  a  motive  for  fre- 
quent visits,  so  that  men,  women,  and  children,  were 
always  hanging  about  the  village,  clamorous  for 
food  and  pertinaciously  inquisitive.  It  was  partly 
to  abate  this  nuisance,  and  "partly,"  says  the  old 
chronicle,  "  to  know  where  to  find  our  savage  allies, 
if  occasion  served,  as  also  to  see  their  strength,  ex- 
plore the  country,  make  satisfaction  for  some  inju- 
*  Pilgrims'  Journal.  f  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  182. 


114  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEKS. 

ries  conceived  to  have  been  done  on  our  parts,  and 
to  continue  tlie  league  of  peace  and  friendship  be- 
tween them  and  us,"*  that  Stephen  Hopkhis  and 
Edward  Winslow  were  now  delegated  to  wait  upon 
the  friendly  sagamore  in  his  forest  home. 

In  July,  1621,  these  earliest  negotiators  of  New 
England  set  out  upon  their  mission,  "  not  with  the 
pomp  of  modern  diplomats,  but  through  the  forest 
and  on  foot,  to  be  received,  not  to  the  luxuries  of 
courts,  but  to  share  in  the  abstinence  of  savage 
life."  Marks  of  the  devastation  caused  by  the  pes- 
tilence which  had  preceded  their  settlement,  of 
"the  arrows  that  flew  by  night,"  were  visible  wher- 
ever the  envoys  went,  and  they  witnessed  the  ex- 
treme poverty  and  feebleness  of  the  aborigines.t 

On,  on  pressed  the  Englishmen  through  the  in- 
tricate mazes  of  the  woods,  and  they  never  ceased 
to  wonder  at  the  ease  and  certainty  with  which 
Squanto,  who  accompanied  them  as  guide  and  in- 
terpreter, picked  out  the  right  path  from  the  lab}^- 
rin thine  tracks.:]:  A  walk  of  fifteen  miles  brought 
them  to  an  almost  "  deserted  village,"  called  Na- 
masket,  in  what  is  now  Middleborough,  where  the 
few  remaining  natives  received  them  with  the  most 
gracious  rites  of  Indian  hospitality,  and  gave  them 
"  a  kind  of  bread,"  and  the  spawn  of  shad  boiled 
with  old  acorns.§  Here  they  tarried  for  an  hour  in 
the  afternoon.  Eight  miles  farther  inland  they  bi- 
vouacked, with  the  sky  for  a  covering  and  the  trees 

<»  Pilgrims'  Journal.  f  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  pp.  317,  318. 

X  Chronicles  of  the  Pilgrims.  §  Ibid.,  Palfrey. 


THE  FIEST   SUMMER.  115 

for  blankets.  A  number  of  Indians  had  assembled 
at  this  place  to  fish,  but  these  had  erected  no  sliel- 
ter.  Around  them  they  discerned  under  the  moon- 
light the  evident  marks  of  former  extensive  cultiva- 
tion. "  Thousands  of  men  had  lived  there,"  says 
Winslow,  the  historian  of  the  mission,  "  who  died 
in  the  great  plague  not  long  since,"* 

In  the  morning,  rising  early,  they  resumed  their 
journey.  Their  retinue  was  swollen  by  six  savages 
who  insisted  upon  bearing  them  company,  and  who 
bore  their  arms  and  baggage.  At  the  various  fords 
the  friendly  red  men  carried  the  Englishmen  across 
dry-shod  upon  their  shoulders,t  a  mark  of  unpre- 
cedented complaisance  when  coming  from  the  pro- 
verbially lazy  Indian  of  the  northeast  coast. 

In  due  time  the  envoys  reached  Pokanoket,  the 
residence  of  Massasoit.  The  sachem  was  not  at 
home.  Ere  long,  however,  he  returned.  The  Eng- 
lishmen received  him  royally,  and  saluted  him  by  a 
discharge  of  their  muskets.  Massasoit  reciprocated 
their  greeting  in  true  Indian  style.:!: 

The  Pilgrims  had  been  careful  to  provide  their 
envoys  with  a  plentiful  supply  of  those  trinkets 
which  the  red  men  so  highly  prized ;  and  now,  ere 
any  business  was  opened,  these  presents  were  de- 
livered. The  sagamore  was  given  "  a  horseman's 
coat  of  red  cotton,  decked  with  a  slight  fringe  of 
lace,"  and  a  copper  chain.  When  he  had  put  on 
this  scarlet  garment,  and  hung  the  chain  about  his 

°  Winslow  in  Chronicles  of  the  Pilgrims,  p.  201. 

t  Ibid.  t  Ibid. 


116  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

neck,  he  seemed  greatly  pleased  by  his  unwonted 
bravery  of  attire,  while  his  warriors  appeared  to  be 
equally  gratified  by  the  grand  appearance  of  their 
king.* 

This  ceremony  completed,  all  squatted  upon  the 
ground,  a  circle  was  formed,  and  amid  deep  silence 
the  pipe  of  peace  was  smoked,  each  individual 
taking  a  whiif  and  then  passing  the  pijDe  to  his 
next  neighbor.  After  this — and  it  should  seem 
that  even  among  the  untamed  children  of  the  for- 
est there  existed  a  "  circumlocution  office,"  where 
there  was  red  tape  to  be  cut — the  envoys  explained 
the  object  of  their  visit.  The  sagamore  listened 
courteously  to  their  recital,  and  was  pleased  to 
grant  each  and  all  of  their  requests. 

"  To  the  end  that  we  might  know  his  messen- 
gers from  others,"  writes  Winslow,  "  we  desired 
Massasoit,  if  any  one  should  come  from  him  to  us, 
to  send  the  copper  chain,  that  we  might  know  the 
savage,  and  hearken  and  give  credit  to  his  message 
accordingly."t 

The  sagamore  seemed  well  content  to  renew  the 
alliance  with  the  English.  He  promised  to  promote 
the  traffic  in  skins,  to  furnish  a  supply  of  corn  for 
seed,  and  to  ascertain  the  owners  of  the  under- 
ground granaries  which  the  conscientious  Pilgrims 
had  rifled  in  the  preceding  winter,  and  for  which 
they  were  anxious  to  make  restitution.:]:     He  also 

*  Winslow  in  Clironicles  of  the  Pilgrims,  p.  201.     Banvard, 
Wilson.  f  Chronicles  of  the  Pilgrims, 

j:  Ibid.     Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  184. 


THE  riEST  SUMMER.  117 

■warned  liis  allies  to  beware  of  the  Narragansetts,  a 
powerful  and  warlike  tribe,  inimical  to  liim,  seated  . 
on  the  borders  and  in  the  vicinity  of  Narragansett 
Bay.*  Massasoit  said  that  the  Narragansett  war- 
riors had  not  been  thinned  by  the  pestilence,  and 
that  they  carried  on  an  extensive  trade  with  the 
Dutchmen  in  the  west.f 

Having  thus  by  skilful  diplomacy  reduced  the 
future  political  intercourse  between  the  nascent 
New  England  republic  and  the  Indian  sachem  to 
some  degree  of  certainty  and  mutual  confidence, 
the  ambassadors  remained  to  partake  of  the  hospi- 
tality of  the  forest  lords. 

They  did  not  think  very  highly  of  Massasoit's 
housekeeping.  The  brave  sagamore  chanced  to  be 
out  of  provisions,  so  his  guests  were  obliged  to  go 
supperless.  When  they  expressed  a  wish  to  sleep, 
they  were  conducted  into  a  wigwam,  and,  as  a  mark 
of  special  honor,  allowed  to  sleep  in  the  same  bed 
with  the  sachem  and  his  squaw — one  end  of  a  hard, 
rude-looking  bed,  covered  with  a  coarse,  thin  mat, 
and  raised  three  or  four  inches  above  the  earthern 
floor,  being  assigned  to  them,  while  their  Indian 
majesties  reposed  at  the  other  extremity.^  Like 
other  royal  favors,  this  proved  somewhat  irksome 
to  the  recipients,  who  had  to  complain  of  very 
straitened  accommodation,  and  record  that  they 
"  were  worse  weary  of  their  lodgings  than  of  their 
journey."§ 

*  Chronicles  of  the  Pilgrims.     Mount,  Journal,  p.  45. 

t  Ibid.  X  Wilson,  p.  386.  §  Ibid.     Pilgrims'  Journal. 


118  THE   PILGEIM  FATHEKS. 

The  next  day  the  colonial  ambassadors  had  no 
breakfast,  but  the  morning  was  taken  up  in  receiv- 
ing visitors — rumors  of  their  presence  having  col- 
lected several  subordinate  sachems  to  do  them 
honor  and  cement  a  friendship — and  in  witnessing 
the  Indian  games,  which  had  been  gotten  up  for 
their  entertainment.* 

About  noon,  Massasoit,  who  had  gone  hunting 
at  dawn,  returned,  bringing  with  him  two  j&shes ; 
these  were  soon  boiled  and  divided  among  forty 
persons  ;t  this  was  the  first  meal  taken  by  the  en- 
voys for  a  day  and  two  niglits.lj: 

Heartily  sick  of  Indian  entertainment,  in  the 
gray  dawn  of  the  following  day  they  set  out  for 
Plymouth.  The  chief  was  sorry  and  ashamed  that 
he  had  been  able  to  receive  them  in  no  better  style ; 
but  while  friendship  was  in  his  heart,  abundance 
was  not  in  liis  cabin.§  After  a  dismal  and  stormy 
jaunt,  they  reached  the  welcome  settlement  on  the 
fifth  day  of  their  absence.  Hard  and  uncouth  as  it 
was,  after  their  recent  experience,  it  seemed  to  them 
an  elysium.  So  severe  had  been  the  hardships  in- 
cident to  their  mission,  so  faint  and  giddy  were 
they  from  hunger  and  want  of  sleep  and  over-exer- 
tion, that  several  days'  rejDose  was  required  to  re- 
cruit them  back  to  health  and  strength.il 

In  the  course   of  the   excursion  just    happily 

*  Banvard.     Chronicles  of  the  Pilgrims. 

t  PaKrey,  vol.  1,  p.  18i.     Banvard,  p.  55.     Wilson,  p.  386. 

X  Chronicles  of  the  Pilgrims.     Mount,  Journal,  p.  47. 

§  Banvard,  Plymouth  and  the  Pilgrims,  p.  55. 

II  Mount,  Journal.     Chronicles,  etc. 


THE  FIEST   SUMMEE.  119 

ended,  the  Pilgrims  liad  acquired  considerable 
knowledge  of  tlieir  Indian  neiglibors — of  their 
habits,  their  motives  of  action,  their  social  forms. 
They  saw  that  rivalry,  and  enmity  begotten  of  ri- 
valry, stirred  constant  fends  among  the  tribes  by 
whom  they  w^ere  surrounded.  The  sight  of  a  strange 
Indian  never  failed  to  fill  tlieir  dusky  guides  with 
alarm  and  watchfulness ;  among  the  red  men,  in 
the  most  literal  sense,  "eternal  vigilance"  was  "the 
price  of  liberty."* 

The  first  settlers  of  Plymouth  generally  dealt 
honorably  and  amicably  with  their  Indian  allies, 
more  so  than  the  later  colonists  of  New  England, 
as  the  treaty  with  Massasoit,  unbroken  for  fifty 
years,  amply  proves.  Trade  was  of  course  an  ob- 
ject with  them ;  but  it  was  not  selfishly  paramount. 
This  fair  dealing  begot  in  its  turn  corresponding 
friendship  and  good  feeling  among  the  red  men ;  it 
put  kindliness  into  their  hearts  at  a  time  when  a 
revengeful  temper  might  have  led  them  to  combine 
and  sweep  the  feeble  handful  of  usurping  interlo- 
pers, weakened  by  disease  and  decimated  by  death, 
into  the  Atlantic  on  whose  verge  they  stood. 

We  can  never  be  sufliciently  thankful  that  God 
moved  both  colonists  and  savages  to  cement  so  long 
and  fair  a  peace.  Yet  from  the  very  outset  the  In- 
dian recognized  the  superiority  of  the  white  man ; 
he  made  a  reluctant  yet  irrepressible  obeisance  to 
civilization.  Dryden  has  well  expressed  this  innate 
consciousness : 

*  Wilson. 


120  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEES. 

"  Old  prophecies  foretell  our  fall  at  hand, 
When  bearded  men  in  floating  castles  land." 

The  sagamore,  as  lie  gazed  on  the  Plymouth 
settlement,  stood  grief-stricken  to  think  that  his 
lease  of  ages  of  the  forests  approached  its  end. 
He  seemed  to  see  in  the  recent  plague  a  grant  of 
the  land  to  another  race,  engrossed  by  the  hand  of 
the  Great  Spirit  himself.  That  rifled  burial-mound 
of  the  Wampanoags,  in  which  the  Pilgrims  found 
their  seed-corn,  was  typical ;  it  was  the  new  tenant 
entering  upon  the  estate,  taking  possession  in  the 
name  of  God,  and  for  the  common  good.     Yet 

"  Who  shall  deem  the  spot  unblessed 
Where  Nature's  younger  children  rest, 
Lulled  on  their  sorrowing  mother's  breast  ? 
Deem  ye  that  mother  loveth  less 
These  bronzed  forms  of  the  wilderness 
She  foldeth  in  her  long  caress  ? 
As  sweet  o'er  them  her  wild-flowers  blow, 
As  if  with  fairer  hair  and  brow 
The  blue-eyed  Saxon  slept  below. ""• 

•>  Whittier,  Ballads  and  other  Poems. 


IN  THE  WOODS.  ]21 


CHAPTER    IX. 

IN   THE   WOODS. 

"  Actions  i-are  and  sudden,  do  commonly 
Proceed  fi-om  fierce  necessity." 

Sir  William  Davenant. 

Two  or  three  clays  after  the  return  of  Winslow 
and  Hopkins  from  Massasoit's  forest  rendezvous, 
the  routine  -life  of  the  colonists  was  broken  by  the 
sudden  disai3pearance  of  one  of  the  younger  mem- 
bers of  the  Plymouth  commonwealth.  John  Bil- 
lington  was  nowhere  to  be  found.  Though  he  was 
a  vicious  lad,  the  pest  of  the  colony,  his  absence 
caused  great  anxiety.  Whither  had  he  gone  ?  Was 
he  drowned  ?  Had  he  been  kidnapped  ?  Had  he 
wandered  away  and  lost  his  course  in  the  tangled 
cross-paths  of  the  forest  ? 

Though  the  season,  already  declining  towards 
autumn,  called  for  the  active  labor  of  the  settlers, 
the  supposed  peril  of  the  lost  boy  swallowed  up  all 
other  considerations,  and  a  squad  of  ten  men  was 
recruited  to  go  in  search  of  him.*  The  clumsy 
shallop  was  rigged,  and,  led  by  Standish,  all  em- 
barked. They  had  not  sailed  far  ere  a  sudden 
squall,  accompanied  by  a  severe  thunderstorm,  pe- 
culiar to  the  season  and  the  latitude,  struck  them, 

*  Pilgrims'  Journal,  Palfrey,  Bradford. 

Pilgiim  Fathen.  (J 


122  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEES. 

as  it  were,  witli  clenched  fists.  A  water-spout,  the 
first  they  had  ever  seen,  flung  up  the  hissing  sea  to 
a  sheer  height  of  fifty  feet  within  a  stone's  toss  of 
the  shallop,  already  half  capsized.*  Drenched  and 
weary,  they  landed  in  Cummaquid,  now  Barnstable 
harbor,  where  they  bivouacked. t  Here  an  Indian 
runner,  despatched  by  Massasoit,  met  them,  and 
said  that  the  lad  they  sought  might  be  found  at 
Nauset,  some  miles  farther  down  the  coast.  In 
the  morning,  as  they  were  about  to  embark,  they 
espied  two  Indians,  strangers,  whom  they  hailed. 
Squanto  and  another  friendly  sachem  named  To- 
kamahamon  were  with  the  scouting  party,  and  they 
now  acted  as  interpreters.  These  natives  corrobo- 
rated Massasoit's  report  of  the  whereabouts  of 
young  Billington ;  and  at'  their  invitation,  six  of 
the  Englishmen  accompanied  them  to  an  interview 
with  their  chief,  lyanough,  who  lurked  in  the  vicin- 
ity. When  they  met  the  sagamore,  they  found  him 
to  be  a  handsome  man,  in  the  May  of  youth,  cour- 
teous in  his  manners,  and  unlike  an  Indian  save 
in  his  costume.:!:  The  entertainment  to  which  he 
invited  his  pale-face  guests  was  in  harmony  with 
his  decorous  appearance,  being  various  and  abun- 
dant.§ 

While  they  were  feasting,  they  saw  an  old,  with- 
ered squaw,  who  seemed  bowed  doAvn  beneath  the 
weight  of  a  hundred  years,  hobbling  eagerly  tow- 

*  Banvard,  p.  56.     Priuce  ;  Mount  in  Young,  pp.  214-218. 
I  Mount  in  Young.     Banvard.  %  Bradford,  p.  103. 

S  "Rnnvn.vfl    n    .^fi       Mount,. 


J     1VJ.UUUL   lU.    XUUU^.         JJclIlV 

§  Banvard,  p.  56.     Mount. 


IN  THE  WOODS.  123 

arcls  the  spot  of  green  sward  where  they  redined. 
She  had  never  seen  an  Englishman,  and  was  natu- 
rally curious  to  gaze  upon  the  pale-face  strangers. 
Qn  reaching  their  vicinage  she  became  intensely 
excited,  and  commenced  to  howl  and  rave  and 
weep,  pausing  between  each  sob  to  curse  her  chief- 
tain's guests.  The  Pilgrims  were  astonished.  They 
asked  why  the  old  squaw  cried  and  cursed,  and 
were  told  that  Hunt  had  kidnapped  three  of  her 
sons,  at  the  same  time  that  he  had  carried  Squanto 
into  Si^anish  servitude.  They  told  the  old  squaw, 
through  an  interjoreter,  that  Hunt  was  a  bad  man, 
condemned  by  all  good  Englishmen ;  said  that  they 
would  not  do  so  wicked  an  act  for  all  the  skins  in 
New  England  ;  and  to  convince  her  of  their  sincer- 
ity, gave  her  some  trinkets,  which  served  to  j^lacate 
her  exuberant  wrath." 

Taking  a  friendl}^  leave  of  lyanough,  the  Pil- 
grims returned  to  the  shallop,  and  at  once  set  sail 
for  Nauset,  the  Indian  name  of  what  is  now  the 
pleasant  village  of  Eastham.  On  their  arrival,  the 
shallop  was  surrounded  by  a  swarm  of  natives,  who 
greatly  annoyed  them  by  their  officious  offers  of 
assistance.!  Standish  was  impelled  to  keep  on  the 
alert  by  the  remembrance  that  this  tribe  was  the 
one  which  had  assailed  the  English  coasting  party 
in  December,  1620.|  Among  these  savages  the 
Pilgrims  found  the  long-sought  owner  of  the  corn 
which  they  had  taken  from  the  burial-mound ;  he 

*  Mount  in  Young.     Banvard.  f  Ibid. 

t  Bradford,  p.  103. 


124  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

was  invited  to  A-isit  Plymouth,  where  he  was  prom- 
ised ample  payment."'^ 

Towards  evening,  a  sagamore  named  Aspiret 
came  to  them,  bringing  with  him  the  lost  lad.  He 
had  wandered  over  the  hills  and  through  the  woods 
for  five  daj's,  living  upon  the  berries  and  wild  fruit 
of  the  season.  Finally  he  reached  an  Indian  vil- 
lage at  Menomet,  where  Sandwich  is  now  located  ; 
and  here  the  Indians  had  sent  him  to  the  Nausets, 
among  whom  he  was  now  found.t 

The  boy  was  decked  out  in  the  tawdry  Indian 
style  when  Aspinet  delivered  him  to  the  settlers, 
and  several  pounds  of  beads  hung  suspended  from 
his  neck.| 

Standish  rewarded  the  sachem  for  his  care  of 
the  boy ;  he  also  distributed  some  presents  among 
his  tribe.  Here  a  rumor  of  war  between  the  Nar- 
ragansetts  and  Massasoit  reached  them  ;  and  Aspi- 
net also  said  that  the  great  sagamore  had  been 
captured  by  his  vengeful  foemen.§  Apprehensive 
for  the  welfare  of  the  colony,  and  conscious  that 
they  ought  to  render  Massasoit  assistance  in  case 
he  had  been  imjustly  attacked,  the  Englishmen 
bade  Aspiret  a  hasty  but  cordial  farewell,  and  in- 
stantly reembarked.il 

Plymouth  was  regained  without  further  adven- 
ture. Their  return  was  welcome,  for  these  ten  con- 
stituted half  the  martial  force  of  the  common- 
wealth ;  and  in  their  absence  the  remaining  settlers 

^  Banvard,  p.  58.  \  Mount  in  Young.     Banvari 

X  Ibid.  §  Ibid.     Prince,  toI.  1,  p.  107.  ||  Ibid. 


IN  THE  WOODS.  125 

had  learned  of  dangerous  intrigues  against  their 
peace,  stirred  by  a  sachem  called  Corbitant,  an  ally 
of  Massasoit's,  but  never  a  friend  to  the  Pilgrims.* 

"The  flying  rumors  gathered  as  they  rolled  ; 
Scarce  any  tale  was  sooner  heard  than  told  ; 
And  all  who  told  it  added  something  new, 
And  all  who  heard  it  made  enlargement  too  ; 
In  every  ear  it  spread,  on  every  tongue  it  grew,  "f 

At  first  this  startling  intelhgence  Avas  flung  into 
the  ears  of  the  settlers  :  "  The  Narragansetts  have 
invaded  Massasoit's  territory ;  the  sagamore  is 
either  a  prisoner  or  has  fled  ;  an  attack  upon  Plym- 
outh may  immediately  be  expected.":]: 

Squanto,  Tokamahamon,  and  a  warrior  named 
Habbamak,  who  had  come  to  live  among  the  colo- 
nists, "  a  proper,  lusty  man,  of  great  account  for  his 
valor  and  parts  among  the  Indians,"§  were  at  once 
despatched  to  reconnoitre.  Hardly  had  they  disap- 
jjeared  in  the  skirting  forests  ere  word  was  brought 
that  Massasoit  was  safe,  that  the  Narragansetts  were 
not  near,  but  that  Corbitant  was  using  every  wile 
to  detach  the  sagamore  fi'om  the  English  alliance, 
while  he  threatened  death  to  Squanto,  Takamaha- 
mon,  and  Habbamak,  the  counsellors  of  the  sachem 
who  were  so  actively  friendly  to  the  Pilgrims. I! 

Events  hustled  each  other ;  for  scarcely  had  the 
settlers  time  to  breathe  freer  after  this  recital,  ere 
"  Habbamak  came  running  in   all  sweating,"  and 

*  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  185.     Bradford,  p.  103.  f  Pope. 

%  Palfrey,  Banvard,  Bradford,  Pilgrims'  Journal. 

§  Bradford,  p.  103,  ||  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  185. 


126  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

informed  the  clustering  colonists  that  he  and  his 
two  friends  had  been  surprised  and  overpowered  at 
Namasket  by  Corbitant ;  that  he  had  managed  to 
escape,  but  that  he  feared  Squanto  and  Tokamaha- 
mon  were  dead,  as  he  saw  Corbitant  press  a  knife 
to  their  breasts,  and  say,  "  If  Sqiianto  were  dead, 
these  English  would  lose  their  tongue."^ 

The  Pilgrims  never  aj)pear  to  greater  advan- 
tage than  in  moments  of  trial ;  they  are  always 
equal  to  the  occasion ; 

"Like  a  ball  that  bounds 
According  to  the  force  with  which  't  was  thrown  ; 
So  in  affliction's  violence,  he  that's  wise, 
The  more  he 's  cast  down,  will  the  higher  rise."f 

'T  was  so  with  the  Pilgrims.  Danger  seemed  pow- 
erless to  abash  them.  They  "  walked  softly  before 
the  Lord,"  but  they  "  feared  no  evil."  The}^  were 
profoundly  penetrated  with  John  Marston's  maxim  : 
"  Through  danger  safety  comes ;  through  trouble 
rest." 

So  now  in  this  strait,  they  w^asted  no  time  in 
technical  deliberation.  Justice  to  themselves,  to 
Squanto,  to  Massasoit,  demanded  action,  prompt, 
efficient.  Impunity  was  a  bounty  on  offence.  They 
were  too  weak  to  dare  let  an  insult  go  unpunished. 
Besides,  it  was  remembered  that  "if  they  should 
suffer  their  friends  and  messengers  to  be  thus 
wronged,  they  would  have  none  to  cleave  unto 
them,  or  bring  them  intelligence,  or  do  them  any 
good  service  afterwards,  while  next  their  foes  would 
*  Banvard,  p.  62.  f  Nabb's  Microcosmos. 


IN   THE   WOODS.  127 

fall  upon  themseh'es.  Whereupon  it  was  resolved 
to  send  Standisli  and  fourteen  men  well  armed,  and 
to  go  and  fall  upon  the  Indian  village  at  Namasket 
at  night ;  and  if  they  found  that  Squanto  was  killed, 
to  cut  off  Corbitant's  head,  but  not  to  hurt  any  not 
concerned  in  the  murder.  Habbamak  was  asked  if 
ho  would  go  and  be  their  guide.  He  said  he  would, 
and  bring  them  to  the  very  spot,  and  point  out  Cor- 
bitant.  So  they  set  out  on  the  evening  of  August 
14th,  1621."^- 

The  night  was  dark  and  tempestuous.  Habba- 
mak himself  was  often  puzzled  to  find  the  path, 
and  at  times  groped  blindlj^  Towards  midnight 
the  little  army  halted  and  made  a  supper  in  the 
dark.  As  they  were  now  near  Namasket,  the  final 
preparations  for  the  assault  were  made.  Knap- 
sacks were  thrown  aside,  and  each  man  received 
his  specific  directions.  The  plan  was  to  surround 
the  wigwam  of  Corbitant  and  seize  him  ere  he  could 
escape.  None  were  to  be  injured  unless  an  attempt 
to  escape  was  made.f 

The  march  was  now  resumed.  Cautiously  and 
silently  they  trod  in  the  footsteps  of  their  dusky 
guide,  casting  furtive  glances  into  the  enveloping 
gloom,  and  pausing  momentarily  to  listen  and  to 
watch.  At  length  the  Indian  village  was  reached. 
There  it  lay,  calm  and  oblivious  of  danger,  the  eyes 
of  its  inmates  sealed  in  sleep.  Softly  but  swiftly 
the  assailants  stole  like  spectres  half  round  the 

*  Bradford,  pp.  103,  104. 


*  Bradford,  pp.  103,  104. 

f  Moimt  in  Yoiing  ;  Banvard,  Bradford. 


128  THE  PILGRIM  FATHEES. 

drowsy  town,  and  instructed  by  Habbamak,  the 
wigwam  of  the  hostile  sachem  was  surrounded. 
Then  came  anotlier  brief  pause,  and  each  man's 
heart  seemed  throbbing  in  his  throat,  so  new  and 
so  exciting  was  the  situation.  The  signal  followed; 
the  hut  was  entered ;  its  inmates,  still  half  asleep, 
were  deprived  of  speech  by  fright  and  drowsiness. 
Soon,  however,  they  regained  their  senses,  and  great 
commotion  ensued.  Standish  asked  if  Corbitant 
was  there.  Unable  or  unwilling  to  reply,  several 
of  the  aroused  Indians  essayed  to  pass  the  guard. 
Then  the  guns  of  the  invaders  increased  the  hub- 
bub, and  flashed  angrily  in  the  pitchy  darkness. 
The  women,  rushing  to  Habbamak,  called  him 
"  Friend,  friend  !"  The  boys,  noticing  that  no  in- 
jury was  atteniiDted  against  the  squaws,  shouted, 
"  I  am  a  girl,  I  am  a  girl  !"* 

After  a  time  silence  was  regained.  Standish, 
speaking  through  the  lips  of  Habbamak,  explained 
the  object  of  the  assault,  and  again  demanded  to 
know  the  whereabouts  of  Corbitant.  Keassured, 
the  Indians  said  that  the  wily  sachem,  fearing  some 
revengeful  action,  had  decamped ;  that  Squanto  and 
Tokamahamon  had  not  yet  been  murdered,  but  were 
held  as  captives  in  a  neighboring  wigwam. f 

The  friendly  sachems  were  speedily  released, 
and  while  their  deliverers  heartily  rejoiced  over 
their  escape,  they  regretted  that  of  Corbitant.^ 
The  whole  party  breakfasted  with  Squanto ;  after 
which  the  Namasket  Indians  were  assembled,  and 
*  Banvard,  p.  G4.  f  Mount  in  Young.  |  Ibid. 


IN  THE  WOODS.  129 

Standi sli  informed  them  of  his  determination  to 
hunt  Corbitant,  and  to  punish  all  who  should  plot 
evil  against  the  colony,  or  who  should  presume  to 
contend  against  the  authority  of  Massasoit.  He 
also  regretted  that  any  had  been  wounded  in  the 
night  attack,  and  invited  those  who  pleased  to  ac- 
company him  back  to  Plymouth,  where  an  English 
physician  would  heal  their  hurts.  Three,  two  men 
and  a  squaw,  accepted  this  invitation,  and  tarrying 
until  their  wounds  were  dressed,  medicined,  and 
cured,  they  were  then  dismissed  in  peace.* 

This  expedition,  so  successful  and  so  bloodless, 
had  a  prodigious  effect.  By  some  system  of  prim- 
itive telegraphing,  the  news  of  it,  and  of  the  awful 
fire-weapons  of  the  pale-faces,  spread  throughout 
the  forests.  The  red  men  did  not  want  such  "med- 
icine men"  for  their  foes.  Nine  sachems,  repre- 
senting jurisdictions  which  extended  from  Charles 
Eiver  to  Buzzard's  Bay,  came  to  Plymouth  and 
made  their  submission.!  The  Indians  of  an  island 
which  the  settlers  had  never  seen,  sent  to  sue  for 
their  friendship  iX  ^^cl  Corbitant  himself,  though 
too  shy  to  come  near  Plymouth  in  person,  used  the 
mediation  of  Massasoit  to  make  his  peace.§ 

The  result  was,  broader  amity  and  firmer  peace. 
But  the  Pilgrims  conquered  as  much  by  their  mod- 
eration  and  self-command  as   by  their   energetic 

■~  Bradford,  Mount,  etc. 

f  Bradford,  p.  104.     Felt,  Hist,  of  New  England,  vol.  1,  pp. 
64,  65.     Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  183.  J  Bradford,  ut  antea. 

§  Ibid.,  Felt,  Palfrej'. 

6* 


130  THE  PILGEIM  FATHERS. 

heroism.  The  anxious  care  with  which  they  treated 
the  injured  warriors  of  their  midnight  raid,  and  the 
candor  of  their  speech,  placated  resentment  and 
inspired  respect.  Still  the  basis  of  this  feeling  was 
a  knowledge  that  the  white  men  would  not  suffer 
insult ;  and  it  has  been  finely  said,  that  if  Ave  justly 
estimate  it,  there  was  more  of  sound  policy  and  gal- 
lant daring  in  the  midnight  raid  of  this  handful  of 
strangers,  than  has  marked  many  a  deed  of  arms 
w^hich  historians  have  delighted  to  record,  and  to 
which  nations  still  look  back  with  exultant  pride.* 

Just  as  autumn  began  to  smile,  the  Pilgrims 
made  another  expedition.  This  had  a  twofold  pur- 
pose :  to  explore  the  country,  and  to  cement  a  peace 
with  the  northeastern  tribes.f 

Entering  the  shallop  at  midnight,  Standish  and 
nine  others,  with  three  Indians  to  interpret,  of 
whom  Squanto  was  one,  embarked  with  the  ebb- 
tide.:}: They  sailed  along  the  coast  to  the  bay  on 
which  Boston  now  stands,  called  in  the  contempo- 
raneous record,  3Iassacliusetts  Bay.^  "On  the  sec- 
ond morning  after  leaving  Plymouth,  they  landed 
upon  a  beach  under  a  cliff,  and  received  the  sub- 
mission of  a  chief  on  promising  to  be  '  a  safeguard 
from  his  enemies.'  They  survej^ed  the  'fifty  isl- 
ands '  of  Boston  harbor ;  and  passing  the  night  on 

*  Wilson.  t  Bradford,  p.  104.     Palfrey,  Banvard. 

X  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  186. 

§  The  word  Massachusetts  signifies  an  arrow-shaped  hill.  It 
is  supposed  to  have  been  given  to  the  surrounding  country  from 
the  Blue  Hills  of  Milton,  which  were  formerly  called  Massachu- 
setts Mount.     See  Banvard,  p.  65. 


IN  THE  WOODS.  131 

board  their  boat,  went  on  sliore  again  the  following- 
day  and  walked  a  few  miles  into  the  country.  They 
observed  land  which  had  been  cultivated,  two  forts 
in  decay,  untenanted  huts,  and  other  tokens  of  re- 
cent depopulation.  They  noted  *  the  fair  entrance ' 
of  the  river  Charles,  and  '  harbors  for  shipping ' 
than  which  '  better  could  not  be.'  Thev  conciliated 
the  few  natives  whom  thev  met,  and  traded  with 
them  for  some  skins.  They  learned  that  the  prin- 
cipal personage  in  the  neighborhood  was  the  female 
chief,  or  'squaw  sachem'  of  the  Massachusetts;  that 
this  tribe  had  suffered  from  the  hostile  incursions 
of  the  Tarratines,  and  that  its  people  owed  a  cer- 
tain allegiance  to  Massasoit.  The  third  evening, 
by  '  a  light  moon,'  the  partj^  set  sail  for  home,  which 
they  reached  before  the  following  noon.  The  ac- 
counts they  brought  of  the  seat  of  their  explora- 
tions naturally  led  their  friends  to  '  wish  they  had 
been  seated  there;'  "^  but  "  the  Lord,  who  assigns 
to  all  men  the  bounds  of  their  habitations,"  re- 
marks Bradford,  "had  appointed  it  for  another 
use."t  The  party  "found  the  Lord  to  be  with 
them  in  all  their  ways,  and  to  bless  their  outgoings 
and  incomings,  for  which  let  his  holy  name  have 
the  praise  for  ever  to  all  posterity."! 

Standish  and  his  friends  had  returned  on  the 
22d  of  September.  Their  services  were  needed ; 
the  nodding  crops  were  to  be  reaped,  and  all  "  be- 

«  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  186.     For  a  fuller  account  of  this  expedi- 
tion, see  Mount  in  Young,  pp.  224:-229. 

t  Bradford,  p.  105.  %  Ibid. 


132  THE   PILGRIM  FATHEES. 

gan  now  to  gather  in  the  small  harvest  they  had."* 
The  husbandry  of  the  year  proved  a  prosperous 
beginning.  The  rivers  supplied  manure  in  abun- 
dance, and  the  weather  had  been  not  unfavorable, t 
"  All  the  summer  there  was  no  want."  While 
"  some  were  thus  employed  in  affairs  abroad,  oth- 
ers were  exercised"  in  domestic  avocations,  in 
"  fishing  for  cod  and  bass  and  other  fish,  of  which 
they  took  great  store,  giving  every  family  its  por- 

tion."t 

"When  the  fields  were  gleaned,  the  pease  turned 
out  "not  worth  the  gathering,  the  sun  having 
parched  them  in  the  blossom ;"  the  barley  was 
"  indifferent  good ;"  and  there  was  "  a  good  in- 
crease of  Indian  corn."  "  They  had  about  a  peck 
of  meal  a  week  to  a  person  j  or  now,  since  harvest, 
Indian  corn  to  that  proportion."! 

Seven  substantial  dwelling-houses  had  been 
built,  "  and  four  for  the  use  of  the  plantation," 
while  others  were  being  constructed.  Fowl  were 
so  abundant  in  the  autumn,  that  "  four  men  in  one 
day  killed  as  much  as,  with  a  little  help  besides, 
served  the  community  almost  a  week."  "  There 
was  great  store  of  wild  turkeys,  of  which  they  took 
many,  besides  venison."  The  fowlers  had  been  sent 
out  by  the  governor,  "  that  so  they  might,  after  a 
special  manner,  rejoice  together,  since  they  had 
gathered  the  fruit  of  their  labors;"  this  was  the 
origin  and  the  first  celebration  of  the  national  fes- 

*  Bradford,  p.  105.  f  Palfrey.  |  Bradford. 

§  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  pp.  186,  187. 


IN  THE  WOODS.  133 

tival  of  New  England,  the  autumnal  thanksgiving. 
On  that  occasion  of  hilarity  they  "  exercised  their 
arms,"  and  for  three  days  "entertained  and  feasted" 
Massasoit  and  some  ninety  of  his  people,  who  made 
a  contribution  of  five  deer  to  the  festivity.  Health 
was  restored  ;  household  fires  were  blazing  bright- 
ly ;  and  in  good  heart  and  hope  the  lonely  but 
thankful  settlers  disposed  themselves  to  meet  the 
rigor  of  another  winter.* 

"Here  was  free  range;  the  hunter's  instincts 
could  bourgeon  and  grow ;  the  deer  that  browsed, 
the  fish  that  swam,  the  fowl  that  flew,  were  free  to 
all — might  be  captives  to  each  man's  bow  and  spear. 
Here  were  '  herring,  cod,  and  ling,'  *  salt  upon  salt,' 
'  beavers,  otters,  furs  of  price,'  '  mines  of  gold  and 
silver,'  '  woods  of  all  sorts,'  '  eagles,  gripes,  whales, 
grampus,  moose,  deer,'  '  bears,  and  wolves,'  '  all  in 
season,  mind  you,  for  you  cannot  gather  cherries  at 
Christmas  in  Kent.'  "Who  then  would  live  at  home 
in  degradation,  only  to  eat,  and  drink,  and  sleep  and 
to  die  ?"-!• 

o  Winslow  in  Mount,  etc.,  cited  in  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  187. 
t  Smith's  Description  of  New  England,  cited  in  Elliot,  vol.  1, 
p.  77. 


134  THE  PILGKIM  FATHERS. 


CHAPTER   X. 

KEINFOECEMENT. 

"A  golden  treasure  is  the  tried  friend  ; 
But  who  may  gold  from  counterfeits  defend  ? 
Trust  not  too  soon,  nor  j-et  too  soon  mistrust ; 
Who  tmnes  betwixt,  and  steers  the  golden  mean. 
Nor  rashly  loveth,  nor  mistrusts  in  vain." 

MiRROK  FOB  MagISTEATES. 

On  the  morning  of  the  9th  of  November,  1621, 
after  morning  prayer — for  the  Pilgrims  commenced 
each  fresh  day  by  the  solemn  invocation  of  God's 
blessing  on  its  labors,  and  at  evening  sealed  the 
record  by  devout  thanksgiving — when  the  thrifty 
settlers  had  separated  each  to  his  respective  task, 
an  Indian  runner  came  breathless  into  the  settle- 
ment, and  announced  that  a  vessel  might  be  seen 
off  Cape  Cod,  apparently  crowding  sail  for  Plym- 
outh harbor.* 

As  no  friends  were  expected  at  that  season,  this 
intelligence  caused  great  excitement.  A  rush  for 
the  neighboring  heights  was  made.  There,  indeed, 
spotting  the  dim  horizon,  a  strange  ship  might  be 
discerned.  Endless  were  the  speculations  as  to  her 
character  and  objects.  Was  she  manned  by  the  in- 
imical Frenchman?  Was  she  a  buccaneer,  bent  on 
murderous  pillage '?  Could  she  be  a  friend  ?  The 
Pilgrims  were  cautious  and  provident  men.     In  the 

*  Eussell's  Pilgrims'  Memorial,  p.  131.     Young's  Chronicles, 
p.  232. 


REINFORCEMENT.  135 

wilderness  the  common  law  maxim  was  reversed — 
all  were  necessarily  held  to  be  guilty  until  proved 
innocent.  So  now  preparation  was  made  to  repel 
intruders,  should  they  come  with  hostile  intent. 
The  governor  ordered  a  cannon  to  be  fired  to  sum- 
mon the  scattered  pioneers  home.  All  were  armed  ; 
then,  in  painful  suspense,  the  colonists  waited  the 
approach  of  the  stranger  craft.  Nearer  she  drew- 
and  yet  nearer.  Intently  was  her  every  motion 
viewed.  Her  architecture  was  studied ;  her  rigging 
was  observed;  and  all  eyes  were  directed  towards 
the  peak  where  should  flap  her  flag :  it  was  not 
there.  But,  suddenly,  it  was  run  up,  and,  lo,  it  was 
the  English  jack ! 

The  colonists  were  delirious  with  joy,  for  that 
flag  meant  friends  at  hand  and  news  from  "  home ;" 
so  their  welcoming  shouts  went  echoing  across  the 
water  to  their  incoming  reinforcers. 

Soon  the  ship  anchored  ;  then  the  boats  passing 
to  and  fro  bore  the  friends  to  each  other's  arms ; 
and  amid  kindly  greetings  and  warm  welcomings 
the  news  was  asked  and  told. 

It  was  the"  Fortune"  which  had  just  arrived.  She 
brought  Cushman  and  thirty -Ave  others  to  reinforce 
the  infant  colon3^  -  Among  this  comj^any  Avere  sev- 
eral who  had  embarked  in  the  "  Speedwell,"  balked 
of  a  passage  then,  but  now  safely  arrived. t  The 
meeting  was  not  untinged  with  sadness.  "  Death 
had  been  busy;  Carver  was  gone,  and  more  than 

<»  Movmt,  in  Young,  pp.  224-229.     Kussell's  Pilgiim'.s  Manual, 
p.  153.  t  Bradford,  Elliot,  Banvard. 


133  THE   PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

half  of  those  to  whom  Cushmau  had  bidden  God- 
speed iu  the  "  Mayflower"  rested  under  the  sod,  the 
grass  growing  on  their  levelled  graves."* 

But  as  was  their  wont,  the  Pilgrims  looked  on 
the  bright  side  of  the  picture  ;  and  all  thanked  God 
that  some  remained  to  welcome  the  new-comers. 

When  the  home  budget  was  opened  it  was  found 
to  contain  several  items  of  moment  to  the  colony. 
The  patent  of  the  London  company  under  which 
the  emigrants  had  expected  to  possess  their  Ameri- 
can homes,  was  made  to  cover  Virginia  alone,  aud 
this  was  rendered  nugatory  by  the  debarkation  in 
New  England. t 

The  London  company  was  now  under  a  cloud. 
The  active  prominence  of  its  chiefs  as  popular  lead- 
ers of  the  Parliamentary  reformers  against  the  royal 
prerogative,  had  provoked  the  pique  of  James  ;  and 
his  hostility  was  increased  by  the  cunning  of  the 
Sj)anish  court,  with  which  he  was  then  on  friendly 
terms,  and  which  desired  to  repel  English  neigh- 
bors from  the  Spanish  settlement  in  Florida.:]: 

James  exhibited  his  resentment  by  favoring  the 
interests  of  a  rival  company  of  which  Gorges,  and 
Sheflield,  and  Hamilton,  were  the  leaders.  To  them 
a  new  incorporation  was  granted,  and  assuming 
the  title  of  the  "Plymouth  Company,"  they  were 
empowered  "  to  order,  and  govern  New  England  in 
America."§ 

'--  Elliot,  vol.  1,  p.  79.  t  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  190. 

I  Ibid.     Peckham's  Life  of  Nicholas  Ferrar.     London,  1852. 
§  Gorge's  Brief  Narrative,  chap.  16. 


REINFOECEMENT.  137 

Upon  the  domain  of  the  new  corporation  the 
Pilgrims  had  settled  without  leave ;  they  were  there- 
fore liable  to  a  summary  ejectment.*  The  company 
of  Merchant-adventurers,  under  whose  auspices  they 
had  sailed,  informed  of  their  position  by  the  return 
of  the  "Mayflower,"  immediately  applied  to  the 
Plymouth  company  for  a  patent  which  should  cover 
the  soil  now  colonized.f  It  was  granted  "  to  John 
Pierce  and  his  associates,"  and  was  in  trust  for  the 
benefit  of  the  colony 4 

Thomas  Weston,  the  agent  of  the  Merchant-ad- 
venturers, sent  a  copy  of  this  charter  to  the  Plym- 
outh colonists,  accompanying  it  with  a  letter  in 
which,  after  complaining  of  the  long  detention  of 
the  "Mayflower"  in  America,  and  of  her  return 
without  a  cargo,  he  said  that  "  the  future  life  of  the 
business  depended  on  the  lading  of  the  '  Fortune,'  " 
which  being  done,  he  promised  never  to  desert  the 
Pilgrims,  even  if  all  the  other  merchants  should  do 
so  ;§  adding,  "  I  pray  you  write  instantly  for  Mr.  Kob- 
inson  to  come  to  you ;  and  send  us  a  fair  engross- 
ment of  the  contract  betwixt  yourselves  and  us,  sub- 
scribed Avith  the  names  of  the  principal  planters."!! 

While  the  "Fortune"  lay  moored  in  Plymouth 
harbor,  Bradford  penned  a  weighty  and  dignified 

«  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  193.  f  Ibid. 

X  "  It  was  dated  June  1, 1G21,  and  is  interesting,  as  being  the  first 
grant  made  by  the  great  Plymouth  company.  'Twas  fii'st  printed 
in  1854,  in  4th  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  vol,  11.  The  original  is  now  at 
Plymouth.  'Tis  probably  the  oldest  document  in  Massachusetts 
officially  connected  with  her  history,"  Bradford,  Ed.  note,  pp. 
107,  108. 

§  Bradford,  p.  107,  Kussell,  Morton,  Young.  ||  Ibid. 


138  THE  PILGBIM  FATHEES. 

reply  to  Weston's  animadversions.  After  reciting  tlie 
incidents  wliicli  had  checkered  the  twelvemonth  of 
their  settlement,  including  the  death  of  Carver,  to 
whom  the  agent  of  the  Merchant-adventurers  had 
directed  his  missive,  he  said,  with  an  unconscious 
touch  of  pathos, "  If  the  company  has  suffered,  on  the 
side  of  the  settlers  there  have  been  disappointments 
far  more  serious.  The  loss  of  many  honest  and  in- 
dustrious men's  lives  cannot  be  valued  at  any  price. 
It  pleased  God  to  visit  us  with  death  daily,  and 
with  so  general  a  disease  that  the  living  were  scarce 
able  to  bury  the  dead,  and  the  well  not  in  any 
measure  sufficient  to  tend  the  sick.  And  now  to 
be  so  greatly  blamed  for  not  freighting  the  ship, 
doth  indeed  go  near  us,  and  much  discourage  us."* 
Preeminently  conscientious,  and  earnestly  desir- 
ous to  give  the  Merchant-adventurers  no  just  cause 
of  complaint,  the  Pilgrim  colonists  made  every  effort 
to  secure  a  speedy  and  profitable  cargo  for  the 
"Fortune's"  homeward  voyage.  The  ship  was  a 
small  one  of  but  fiftj'-five  tons  burden  ;t  but  she 
was  at  once  "  laden  with  good  clapboards,  as  full  as 
she  could  stow,  two  hogsheads  of  beaver  and  other 
..  skins,  with  a  few  other  trifling  commodities,"  in  all 
to  the  value  of  five  hundred  pounds.|  Barely  four- 
teen days  elapsed  between  her  arrival  and  her  read- 
iness to  dej)art.§ 

*  Bradford,  pp.  108,  109. 

t  Elliot,  Felt,  Banvard,  Mount  in  Young. 

X  Bradford,  p.  108.     About  twenty-five  hundred  dollars. 

§  Ibid. 


EEINFORCEMENT.  139 

Just  before  the  "Fortune"  sailed,  the  colonists 
were  busy  in  preparing  epistles  for  tlieir  friends  in 
England  and  for  the  dear  Lejden  congregation. 
These  were  intrusted  to  Robert  Cushman,  who 
was  to  return  to  London  and  make  a  report  of  the 
situation  of  the  Plymouth  colony.*  He  himself, 
just  on  the  eve  of  his  return,  delivered  a  memorial 
discourse  in  the  block  citadel  on  Fort-hill — which 
was  at  once  church  and  castle — in  which  he  recited 
vividly  the  cause  of  the  emigration,  the  incidents 
attending  it,  the  spirit  of  the  actors,  and  the  augu- 
ries of  the  future  ;  and  this  was  printed  at  London 
in  1622.t 

In  the  dedicatory  epistle  to  this  sermon — whose 
object  was  to  draw  the  attention  of  Puritans  at 
home  to  the  advantages  of  the  Plymouth  settlement 
as  a  residence  where  the  virtues  of  religion  might 
be  more  than  ordinarily  exemplified,  as  is  proved  by 
the  fact  that  it  was  so  speedily  published  in  Eng- 
land— Cushman  says :  "  If  there  be  any  Avho  are 
content  to  lay  out  their  estates,  spend  their  time, 
labor,  and  endeavors  for  the  benefit  of  those  who 
shall  come  after,  and  who  desire  to  further  the  gos- 
pel among  the  poor  heathen,  quietly  contenting 
themselves  with  such  hardships  as  by  God's  provi- 
dence shall  fall  upon  them,  such  men  I  should  ad- 
vise and  encovirage  to  go  to  New  England,  for  in 
that  wilderness  tlieir  ends  cannot  fail  them.  And 
whoso  rightly  considereth  what  manner  of  entrance, 

*  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  197.     Bradford. 
t  Dr.  Young  has  reprinted  it  in  his  Chronicles,  p.  262,  et  seq. 


140  THE   PILGEIM  FATHERS. 

abiding,  and  proceeding  we  have  liad  among  the 
savages  since  we  came,  will  easily  think  that  God 
hath  some  great  work  in  store  for  ns.  By  reason 
of  one  Squanto,  who  lives  amongst  ns,  who  can  sjDeak 
English,  we  can  have  daily  commerce  with  the  In- 
dian kings  ;  and  acquaint  them  with  our  causes  and 
purposes,  both  human  and  religious."* 

Three  things,  according  to  Winslow,  are  the 
bane  and  overthrow  of  plantations :  The  vain  ex- 
pectation of  instantaneous  profit,  without  work ; 
ambition  ;  and  the  lawlessness  of  settlers.f  These 
rocks  long  wrecked  the  prosperity  of  the  American 
colonies  outside  of  New  England.  Cushman  bade 
emigrants  beware  of  entertaining  the  too  common 
error  of  supposing  that  the  wilderness  was  an  actual 
Eldorado,  as  the  Spanish  had  taught,  and  as  the 
Virginia  colonists  had  imagined.:]:  "No,"  he  said, 
"  neither  is  there  any  land  or  possession  now  like 
unto  that  which  the  Jews  had  in  Canaan,  beiiig 
legally  holy,  and  appropriated  unto  holy  people,  the 
seed  of  Abraham,  in  which  they  dwelt  securely,  and 
had  their  days  prolonged,  it  being  by  an  immediate 
voice  said,  that  the  Lord  gave  it  to  them  as  a  land 
of  rest  after  their  weary  travels,  and  as  a  type  of 
eternal  rest  in  heaven.  But  now  there  is  no  land 
of  that  sanctity,  no  land  so  appropriated,  none  typi- 

■~"  Cusliman,  cited  in  Felt,  vol.  1.  p.  G7. 

j-  Winslow's  Good  News,  Londou,  1G24. 

J  "  Captain  Smith  describes  the  Virginia  settlers  as  made  up  of 
forty-eight  needy  '  gentlemen '  to  four  carpenters,  who  were  come 
to  do  nothing  else  '  but  dig  gold,  make  gold,  refine  gold,  and  load 
gold.'  "    Elliot,  vol.  1,  p.  79,  note. 


REINFORCEMENT.  141 

cal,  much  less  any  that  can  be  said  to  be  given  of 
God  to  any  one  peojDle,  as  Canaan  was,  which  they 
and  theirs  must  dwell  in  till  God  sendeth  upon 
them  sword  and  captivity.  Now  we  are  all,  in  all 
places,  strangers  and  pilgrims,  travellers  and  so- 
journers. Having  no  dwelling  but  in  this  earthly 
tabernacle,  no  residence  but  a  wandering,  no  abi- 
ding but  a  fleeting,"*  Avhere  work  makes  a  home, 
and  labor  keeps  it. 

In  a  private  letter  addressed  by  Edward  Wins- 
low  to  a  friend  in  London,  and  which  helped  to 
swell  the  budget  which  went  out  by  the  "  Fortune," 
that  stout  old  worthy  says  :  "  We  have  found  the 
Indians  very  faithful  to  their  covenant  of  peace  with 
us,  very  loving  and  ready  to  pleasure  us.  We  often 
go  to  them,  and  they  come  to  us.  Some  of  us  have 
been  fifty  miles  by  land  into  the  interior  with  them, 
the  occasions  and  relation  whereof  you  shall  un- 
derstand by  our  general  and  more  full  declaration 
of  such  things  as  are  worth  noting.  Yea,  it  hath 
pleased  God  so  to  possess  the  Indians  with  fear  of 
us,  and  love  unto  us,  that  not  only  the  greatest  king 
amongst  them,  called  Massasoit,  but  also  all  the 
princes  and  tribes  round  about  us  have  sent  their 
messengers  to  us  to  make  suit  for  peace,  so  that 
there  is  now  great  peace  amongst  the  Indians  them- 
selves, which  was  not  formerly,  neither  would  have 
been  but  for  us  ;  and  we,  for  our  part,  walk  as  peace- 
ably and  safely  in  the  wood  as  in  the  highways  in 
England.  We  entertain  them  pleasantly  and  famil- 
e  Cited  in  Elliot,  vol.  1,  j^p.  79,  80. 


142  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEES. 

iarly  in  our  cabins,  and  they  as  friendly  bestow 
their  venison  on  us.  They  are  a  peoj)le  without  any 
religion,  yet  trusty,  quick  of  a]323rehension,  ripe — • 
withal  just."* 

By  this  same  opportunity  William  Hilton,  who 
had  come  out  in  the  "Fortune,"  thus  sums  up  an 
account  to  his  "  loving  cousin"  of  the  natural  wealth 
and  prospects  of  the  country  on  whose  soil  he  had 
recently  set  foot :  "  Better  grain  cannot  be  than  the 
Indian  corn,  if  we  will  plant  it  upon  as  good  ground 
as  a  man  may  desire.  We  are  all  freeholders ;  the 
rent-day  doth  not  trouble  us ;  and  of  all  the  bles- 
sings we  have,  which  and  what  we  list  we  may  take 
in  season.  Our  company  are,  for  the  most  part, 
very  honest,  religious  people.  The  word  of  God  is 
sincerely  taught  us  every  Sabbath  ;  so  that  I  know 
not  any  thing  a  contented,  earnest  mind  can  here 
want.  I  desire  your  friendly  care  to  send  my  wife 
and  children  to  me  when  occasion  serves,  where  I 
wish  all  the  friends  I  have  in  England."t 

Winslow  gives  us  some  significant  hints  of  the 
social  life  and  wants  of  the  colony  by  describing  to 
his  friends  the  stores  most  needful  to  send  out  for 
their  use;  and  we  get  no  little  insight  into  the 
hardships  and  very  homely  accommodations  of  the 
forefathei-s  through  the  glass  of  his  request  that  the 
next  ship  may  "  bring  paper  and  linseed  oil  for  the 
windows,  with  cotton  yarn  for  the  lamps.":}; 

""  Winslow,  in  Young's  Chronicles. 

t  Wilson,  p.  389.     Felt,  vol.  1,  p.  67. 

t  Smith,  New  England's  Trials.     Pjince,  vol.  1,  p.  115. 


REINFOECEMENT.  143 

And  now,  on  the  14tli  of  December,  1621,  all 
being  ready  and  leave-taking  said,  the  little  "  For- 
tune," crammed  with  the  "first  fruits"  of  the  Pil- 
grim enterprise,  set  sail  for  England.  But  alas,  just 
as  she  had  almost  reached  the  English  coast,  she 
was  clutched  by  a  French  privateer,  robbed  of  her 
precious  freight,  and  sent  into  the  Thames  an  empty 
hull,  to  the  bitter  chagrin  of  the  company  of  Mer- 
chant-adventurers, and  the  sad  disappointment  of 
the  Plymouth  colonists,  when,  at  a  later  day,  they 
learned  of  the  misfortune.* 

*s  Bradford,  Young. 


144  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 


CHAPTER   XL 

THE  MOEALE  OF  THE  COLONY. 

"Good  name  in  man  and  woman,  dear  my  lord, 
Is  tlae  immediate  jewel  of  their  souls." 

Shakspeare,   Othello. 

On  the  return  of  the  settlers  from  the  shore 
where  they  had  said  good-by  to  the  "Fortune,"  it 
was  arranged  that  the  new-comers  should  for  the 
present,  in  the  absence  of  other  accommodations, 
be  received  into  the  families  already  provided  with 
cabins.*  Unhappily,  the  "Fortune"  had  brought 
out  no  store;  indeed,  she  was  obliged  to  rely  on 
the  colonists  for  provisions  for  her  larder  on  the 
home  voyage.  The  emigrants  whom  she  lauded 
were  absolutely  destitute,  having  "  not  so  much  as 
biscuit-cake  or  any  other  victuals  set  aside  for  pres- 
ent want.  Neither  had  they  any  bedding,  nor  pot 
nor  pan  to  dress  meat  in,  nor  over-many  clothes."t 

Though  the  plantation  rejoiced  at  this  increase 
of  strength,  yet  they  would  have  been  better  pleased 
had  many  of  the  emigrants  come  better  provided 
and  in  fitter  condition  to  winter  in  the  wilderness4' 

With  the  provident  promptness  which  is  so  om- 
nipresent a  trait  in  their  character,  the  Pilgrims  at 
once  "  took  an  exact  account  of  all  their  provisions 

°  Bradford,  Mount  in  Young,  Eussell. 

t  Ibid.     Prince,  vol.  1.  |  Bradford,  p.  106. 


MOKALE  OF  THE  COLONY.      145 

in  store,  and  proportioning  these  to  the  number  of 
persons,  found  that,  owing  to  the  arrival  of  so  many 
unexpected  and  necessitous  guests,  they  would  not 
hold  out  above  six  months,  or  till  the  spring,  on 
half-allowance;  and  they  could  not  well  give  less 
this  Avinter-time,  till  fish  came  in  again.  But  all 
were  presently  put  on  half-allowance,  which  began 
to  be  hard,  but  it  was  borne  patiently."* 

Indeed,  the  Pilgrims  bore  this  hardshij)  with 
something  better  than  mere  patience.  "  I  take  no- 
tice of  it  as  a  great  favor  of  God,"  wrote  one  of  the 
sufferers,  "  that  he  has  not  only  preserved  my  life, 
but  given  me  contentedness  in  our  straits;  insomuch 
that  I  do  not  remember  ever  to  have  wished  in  my 
heart  that  I  had  never  come  into  this  country,  or 
that  I  might  be  again  in  my  father's  house. "f  It 
was  said  of  Brewster,  that  "  with  the  most  submis- 
sive patience  he  bore  the  novel  and  trying  hard- 
ships to  which  his  old  age  was  subjected,  lived  ab- 
stemiously, and  after  having  been  in  his  youth  the 
companion  of  ministers  of  state,  the  rej^resentative 
of  his  sovereign,  familiar  with  the  magnificence  of 
courts,  and  the  possessor  of  a  fortune  sufficient  not 
only  for  the  comforts,  but  the  elegances  of  life,  this 
humble,  devoted  Puritan  labored  steadily  with  his 
own  hands  in  the  'liistie  stibble-fields '  of  the  un- 
kempt wilderness  for  daily  subsistence ;  while  on  the 
Sabbath,  as  elder  of  the  church,  and  in  the  absence 
of  an  ordained  minister,  he  broke  the  bread  of  Hfe 
for  the  Pilgrim  flock.  Now,  destitute  of  meat,  of 
c-  Bradford,  p.  110.  t  While's  Incidents,  etc. 

Pilgrim  Fatlieis.  *l 


146  THE  PILGKIM  FATHERS. 

fish,  and  of  bread,  over  Lis  simple  raeal  of  clams 
he  would  return  thanks  to  the  Lord  that  he  could 
suck  of  the  abundance  of  the  sea  and  of  treasures 
hid  in  the  sand."* 

An  eminent  historian  bids  us  beware  of  the  error 
of  supposing  that  the  community  planted  at  Plym- 
outh was  of  a  strictly  homogeneous  character. 
"  The  devoted  men  who,  at  Leyden,  had  debated 
the  question  of  emigration,  did  not  constitute  the 
whole  company  even  of  the  'Mayflower.'  They  had 
been  joined  in  England  by  several  strangers  who, 
like  themselves,  had  come  under  engagement  to  the 
Merchant-adventurers  of  London.  That  partner- 
ship had  business  objects,  and  was  by  no  means 
solely  swayed  by  religious  sympathy  with  the  Ley- 
den Pilgrims."t 

Of  the  twenty  men  of  the  "Mayflower's"  com- 
pany who  survived  the  first  winter,  several  are  un- 
favorably known,  as  Billington,  the  foul-mouthed 
contemner  of  Standish's  authority,  and  Dotey  and 
Lister,  the  lackey  duelists  of  Hopkins'  quiet  liouse- 
hold.1: 

So  of  the  reinforcement  by  the  "  Fortune." 
Some  were  old  and  devout  friends  of  the  colonists, 
as  Simonson  and  De  la  Noye,  members  of  the  Ley- 
den church ;  John  Winslow,  Edward's  brother ; 
Thomas  Prince,  afterwards  governor;  Cushman's 
son,  and  a  son  of  Brewster.§     Others  were  turbu- 

*  White's  Incidents,  etc. 

t  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  pp.  187-189.  |  Chap.    7.  p.  106. 

^  "Winslow  in  Brief  Narration,  in  HAqDocrisie  Unmasked,  p.  393. 
.;is(i.  Pfilfvpy.  vol.  1,  p.  180.  note. 


MORALE  OF  THE  COLONY.     147 

lent  and  restless  rovers,  impatient  of  control,  care- 
less in  religion,  and  burning  for  adventure ;  in  Brad- 
ford's phrase,  "  lusty  young  men,  and  many  of  them 
•wild  enough,  Avho  little  considered  whither  or  about 
what  they  went."*  Happily  for  the  peace  of  the 
little  commonwealth  and  for  posterity,  "  the  advan- 
tage' of  numbers  and  the  authority  of  superior  char- 
acter determined  that  events  should  proceed  at 
Plymouth  according  to  the  policy  of  Bradford, 
Brewster,  and  their  godly  friends.  Still  internal 
tendencies  to  disturbance  are  not  to  be  left  out  of 
view  in  a  consideration  of  the  embarrassments  with 
which  the  forefathers  had  to  contend. "t 

Under  Bradford's  government,  the  laws  were 
few  and  mild,  but  firm;  and  neither  the  lazy  nor 
the  godless  received  countenance,  though  tender 
consciences  were  never  pinched.  Take  this  inci- 
dent as  an  illustration:  "  On  the  day  called  Christ- 
mas day,  the  governor  called  the  settlers  out  to 
work,  as  was  usual;  but  the  most  part  of  the  new- 
comers excused  themselves,  and  said  it  went  against 
their  consciences  to  work  on  Christmas.  So  the 
governor  told  them  if  they  made  it  a  matter  of  con- 
science, he  would  spare  them  till  they  were  better 
informed.  On  this,  he  led  away  the  rest,  and  left 
them ;  but  when  the  laborers  came  home  from  work 
at  noon,  they  found  the  scrupulous  ncAV-comers  in 
the  street  at  play  openly ;  some  pitching  the  bar, 
some  at  foot -ball,  and  others  at  kindred  sports. 
Immediately  the  governor  went  to  them,  and  took 

o  Bradford,  p.  106.  t  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  189. 


148  THE  PILGEIM  FATHERS. 

away  tlieir  implements,  and  told  them  that  it  was 
against  his  conscience  that  they  should  play  while 
others  worked.  If  they  made  the  keeping  of  Christ- 
mas matter  of  devotion,  let  them  keep  their  houses ; 
but  there  should  be  no  gaming  or  revelling  in  the 
streets;  since  which  time  nothing  hath  been  at- 
tempted that  w\ay,  at  least  openly."- 

In  this  and  kindred  ways,  the  commonwealth 
was  controlled  and  moulded  into  higher  courses. 
Practical  consistency  was  gained,  and  the  elements 
out  of  which  homogeneity  might  grow  were  planted 
at  every  hearth-stone. 

"  In  companions 
That  did  converse  and  spend  their  time  together, 
Whose  souls  did  bear  an  equal  yoke  of  love_ 
There  needs  should  be  a  like  proportion 
Of  lineaments,  of  manners,  and  of  spirit." 

«  Bradford,  p.  112. 


THE  PILGRIM  GOVEENMENT.         149 


CHAPTER   XII. 

THE   PILGBIM  GOVEENMENT. 

"  A  free  republic,  where,  beneath  the  sway 
Of  mild  and  eqnal  laws,  framed  by  themselves, 
One  people  dwell,  and  own  no  lord  save  God." 

Mes.  Hale's  Ormond  Grosvenor. 

Just  here  it  is  perhaps  fit  that  the  salient  fea- 
tures of  the  unique  government  under  which  the 
forefathers  lived  and  prospered  should  be  briefly 
sketched ;  and  in  order  that  this  exposition  may  bo 
clear,  claiming  the  privilege  of  a  chronicler,  we  shall 
command  the  clock  of  this  narration  to  stand  still, 
while  we  peer  at  times  into  the  then  future,  in  tra- 
cing some  law  to  its  result,  or  in  depicting  the  change 
of  front  of  an  exploded  policy. 

At  the  outset,  the  arrangements  of  the  Pilgrims 
were  extremely  simple,  and  grew  naturally  from 
their  needs,  from  their  crude  ideas  of  liberty,  and 
their  imperfect  conception  of  a  model  state.  Nom- 
inally, the  sovereignty  of  Britain  was  recognized; 
in  fact,  all  through  these  opening  decades  of  Amer- 
ican history,  the  colonists  were  despised  by  the 
home  government,  and  left  free  to  plant  the  most 
radical  principles  of  a  "  proper  democracy."  It  was 
only  when  the  greed  of  gain  squeezed  her  heart,  not 
repentance  nor  love,  that  England  recognized  the 
legitimacy  of  the  neglected  child  whom  she  had 


150  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEES. 

pronounced  a  bastard,  and  left  to  freeze  in  the 
winter  wilderness.  AVhen  God  wrote  success  upon 
the  frontlet  of  the  colony,  the  Shylocks  on  the  Bial- 
tos  of  the  world  were  eager  to  invest  in  the  enter- 
prise, while  England,  with  motherly  pride,  patted 
New  England  upon  the  head  and  said,  "I  rocked 
your  cradle;  but,  bless  me,  how  you  are  grown, 
and  how  like  me  you  are.  You  may  pay  me  your 
earnings,  and  I  '11  send  you  a  governor." 

But  through  the  bitter  months  of  the  incipient 
settlement  Shylock  could  see  nothing  in  New  Eng- 
land but  a  barren  coast,  while  Britain  could  not 
discern  Plymouth  Rock  across  the  water ;  nor  if  she 
had  would  any  craving  governor  have  itched  to  set 
up  his  chair  of  state  in  a  cheerless  Eldorado  of  ice 
and  snow. 

So  the  Pilgrims  were  left  to  shift  for  themselves 
until,  strengthened  by  incessant  tussles  with  a  rug- 
ged climate  and  the  savage  foe,  they  expanded  into 
robust  manhood.  In  these  first  months,  the  Plym- 
outh colonists  regarded  themselves  as  one  famUy, 
at  whose  head  stood  the  governor,  in  loco  parentisr 
But  as  business  increased,  the  whole  burden  of  gov- 
ernment was  felt  to  be  too  onerous  for  the  single 
shoulders  of  the  governor  to  bear ;  and  when  Brad- 
ford stepped  into  the  gubernatorial  chair  left  vacant 
by  the  death  of  Carver,  he  was  voted  an  assistant.! 
In  1624,  he  was  given  five  assistants.  Afterwards, 
in  1633,  the  number  was  increased  to  seven;  and 

«  Allen's  Biog.  Diet..     Thatcher's  Plymouth,  p.  77. 
t  Chap,  7,  p.  108. 


THE   PILGRIM   GOVERNMENT.         Ibl 

these,  called  "the  Governor's  Council,"*  governed 
the  commonwealth  in  conjunction  with  their  primi- 
tive executive.  The  vote  of  each  councillor  counted 
one,  and  the  vote  of  the  chief  magistrate  was  but 
double — the  only  check  he  had  over  the  action  of 
the  Council.f 

The  governor  was  chosen  annually,  by  general 
suffrage,.]:  as  were  also  the  councillors.§  The  name 
of  the  man  who  was  disposed  to  shirk  his  civil  duty 
we  do  not  know  ;  "  but  a  curious  law  was  passed  in 
in  1632,  that  Avhoever  should  refuse  the  office  of 
governor,  being  chosen  thereto,  should  pay  twenty 
pounds  ;  and  that  of  magistrate,  ten  pounds.  Very 
singular,  certainly  ;  and  we  may  suppose  that  that 
race  has  run  out  even  in  Massachusetts."!! 

The  legislative  body  was  at  first  composed  of 
the  whole  company  of  voters.!  Then,  when  their 
numbers  grew,  church-membership  was  made  the 
test  of  citizenship- " — a  test  which  endured  till  1665, 
when  it  was  reluctantly  yielded  at  the  requisition 
of  the  king's  commissioners.tf  It  was  not  until 
1669  that  the  increase  of  population  warranted  the 
establishment  of  a  House  of  Eepresentatives.:j::|: 

"Narrow  as  the  restriction  of  citizenship  to 
church-members  was,  it  is  easy  to  explain  it  by 
remembering  that  toleration,  in  any  large  sense, 

»  Morton's  Memorial,  Prince's  Annals,  Hall's  Plymouth  Eec- 
ords.  t  Ibid.  +  Ibid.     Elliot,  vol.  1,  p.  109. 

§  Hall,  Prince,  Thatcher.  ||  Elliott,  vol.  1,  p.  110. 

IT  Graham,  vol.  1.  Massachusetts  Historical  Kecords.  Haz- 
ard, vol.  1.  s>c-  Ibid. 

ft  Thatcher's  Plymouth.  J  J  Graham,  vol.  1,  p.  230. 


152  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEES. 

■was  hardly  entertained  by  the  most  hberal  religion- 
ists in  that  twilight  age,  and  that  the  one  idea  which 
insjDired  this  emigration  and  nerved  these  men  for 
the  bitterest  sacrifices  was,  that  they  and  their  chil- 
dren might  be  free  from  an  ecclesiastical  tj-ranny 
which,  if  it  followed,  would  endanger  them.  It 
should  also  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  history  they 
studied,  and  the  guide  they  felt  bound  to  follow, 
was  the  Jewish  theocracy,  ordained  by  God,  as  they 
doubted  not,  to  be  a  model  in  church  and  state  for 
all  time ;  and  that,  under  that  dispensation,  death 
was  the  jDunishment  for  smaller  errors  than  dissent. 
These  facts  explain  and  palliate  the  religious  pre  • 
cision  and  severity  afterwards  practised  in  New 
England.  But  the  free  idea  with  which  they  start- 
ed graduall}^  grew  broader,  overcame  the  evil  cus- 
toms of  the  time,  and  strangled  the  prejudices  of 
the  Pilgrims  themseh'es."* 

So  early  as  the  17th  of  December,  1623,  it  was 
decreed  that  "  all  criminal  facts,  and  all  manner  of 
trespass  and  debt  betwixt  man  and  man,  should  be 
tried  by  the  verdict  of  twelve  honest  men."t  Thus 
the  jury  trial,  the  distinctive  badge  of  Saxon  civili- 
zation, a  right  which  a  long  line  of  able  lawyers, 
from  Coke  and  Hale  to  Mansfield  and  Erskine,  have 
united  in  styling  the  palladium  of  civil  liberty,  was 
planted  in  America. 

Previous  to  the  year  1632,  the  laws  of  Plymouth 
colony  were  little  more  than  the  customs  of  the 

*  Elliot,  Tol.  1,  pp.  112,  113. 

f  Plymouth  Kecorcls.     Hazard,  vol.  1. 


THE  PILGEIM  GOVERNMENT.         153 

people.*  In  163G  these  were  digested,  aud  pref- 
aced with  a  declaration  of  rights ;  and,  with  vari- 
ous alterations  and  additions,  the  whole  manuscript 
collection  was  printed  in  1671. t  Let  us  open  the 
ponderous  old  folio,  and  cull  from  the  mass  a  few 
specimen  and  characteristic  samples.  Early  pro- 
vision was  made  for  the  education  of  youth.  Many 
of  the  Pilgrims  were  men  of  liberal  culture,  as  Wins- 
low  and  Brewster,:!;  and  all  recognized  its  value  and 
necessity ;  so,  in  order  that  knowledge  and  civil 
liberty  might  clasp  hands,  it  was  enacted,  "  that 
twelve  pounds  should  be  raised  for  the  salary  of  a 
teacher,  and  that  children  should  be  forced  to  at- 
tend school."§ 

Decreed  :  "  For  ordering  of  persons  and  distrib- 
uting the  lands.  That  freemen  shall  be  twenty-one 
years  of  age ;  sober  and  peaceable ;  orthodox  in 
the  fundamentals  of  religion.  That  drunkards  shall 
be  subject  to  fines,  to  the  stocks,  and  be  posted ; 
and  sellers  be  forbidden  to  sell  them  liquors. 

"  Horse-racing  is  forbidden ;  so  also  walking 
about  late  o'  nights. 

"  The  minister's  salary  shall  be  paid  by  rate  lev- 
ied on  all  the  citizens.  Sabbath  work  aud  travel- 
ling is  forbidden:  also  all  visiting  on  that  dav. 

"  Profane  swearing  punishable  by  '  placing  in 
the  stocks ;  lying,  by  the  stocks  or  by  fine.' 

"  Fowling,  fishing,  and  hunting,  shall  be  free. 

"Every  wolf's  head  shall  be  worth,  to  an  In- 

*  Plymouth  Kecorcls.     Hazard,  vol.  1.     Elliot.         f  Elliot. 
J  Thatclier's  Plj^mouth,  Morton's  Memorials,  etc. 
§  Book  of  Laws  of  New  Plymouth,  1671. 


154:  THE  PILGKIM  FATHEES. 

dian,  twelve  shillings  or  '  a  coat  of  du£fels ;'  to  a 
white  man,  twenty  shillings. 

"  Haunters  of  ale-houses  shall  be  disciplined  bj 
the  church. 

"  A  motion  of  marriage  to  any  man's  daughter, 
if  made  without  obtaining  leave,  shall  be  punished 
by  fine  or  corporal  punishment,  at  the  discretion  of 
the  court,  so  it  extend  not  to  the  endangering  of 
life  or  limb. 

"  Women  shall  not  wear  short  sleeves  ;  nor  shall 
their  sleeves  be  more  than  twenty-two  inches  wide  :"* 
an  enactment  the  object  of  which  was,  to  prevent 
indecent  extremes  and  extravagance  in  dress. 

So  runs  this  "  quaint  old  volume  of  forgotten 
lore."  If  some  of  these  laws  seem  severe,  as  we  scan 
them  through  the  vista  of  two  centuries,  and  in  an 
age  when  sumptuary  laws  are  perhaps  too  little 
known,  it  may  be  said  in  their  defence,  that  they 
"were  quite  upon  a  level  with  the  kindred  legislation 
of  Europe,  even  in  their  most  obnoxious  features, 
while  their  progressive  and  liberal  tone  is  as  new 
and  unique  as  the  colony  which  gave  them  birth, 
and  whose  ideas  they  mirror. 

In  May,  1621,  the  first  marriage  in  New  Eng- 
land was  celebrated.'!-  Edward  Winslow  espoused 
the  widow  of  William  White,  and  the  mother  of 
Peregrine  White,  whose  infant  lullaby  was  the  first 
ever  sung  by  Saxon  voice  in  New  England.:^     "  ■^^' 

°  Laws  of  New  Plj'mouth,  cited  in  Elliot,  Tol.  1,  p.  111. 

t  Prince,  Annals,  vol.  1,  pp.  76,  98,  103,  105.    Bradford,  p.  101. 

t  Ibid. 


THE  PILGRIM  GOVERNMENT.         155 

cording  to  tlie  laudable  custom  of  the  Low  Coun- 
tries," sajs  Bradford,  "  the  ceremony  was  thought 
most  requisite  to  be  performed  by  the  magistrate, 
as  being  a  civil  contract  upon  which  many  ques- 
tions of  inheritance  do  depend,  with  other  things 
most  proper  for  their  cognizance,  and  most  conso- 
nant to  the  Scriptures,*  it  being  nowhere  found  in 
the  gospel  to  be  layed  on  ministers  as  a  necessary 
part  of  their  office.  This  practice  continued,  not 
only  among  them,  but  it  was  followed  by  all  the 
famous  churches  of  Christ  in  those  parts  to  the 
year  1646."t 

;>  Euth,  chap.  4.  t  Bradford,  p.  101. 


156  THE  PILGRIM  FATHEES. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

THE   COLONIAL  ROUTINE. 

"Still  to  ourselves  in  every  place  consigned, 
Onr  own  felicity  we  make  or  find  ; 
"With  silent  course,  which  no  loud  storms  annoy, 
Glides  the  smooth  current  of  domestic  joy." 

Goldsivuth's  Traveller. 

Now,  as  their  second  wilderness  winter  began 
to  benumb  the  fingers  and  chill  the  blood  of  the 
Pilgrim  colonists,  they  were  necessarily  shut  out 
from  many  of  the  employments  of  the  spring,  the 
summer,  and  the  autumn.  They  were  busied  chiefly 
in  fishing,  hunting,  the  collection  of  fuel,  hewing 
timber,  and  exploring  expeditions,  varying  this  rou- 
tine by  occasional  trafl&c  with  Indian  trappers.* 

Devoutly  thankful  were  the  forefathers  for  God's 
mercy  and  protection  in  the  past,  and  with  tranquil 
faith  they  set  their  faces  towards  the  future.  So 
full  was  their  devotion,  that  it  constantly  cropped 
out,  even  setting  its  impress  upon  the  seal  of  the 
commonwealth,  which  represented  four  men  in  the 
midst  of  a  wilderness,  each  resting  on  one  knee, 
and  raising  his  clasped  hands  toAvards  heaven  in 
the  attitude  of  prayer.t 

e  Palfi-ey,  vol.  1,  p.  196. 

f  This  seal  was  dated  1620,  and  circumscribed  with  the  words, 
"Sigillum  Societatis  Plymouth,  Nov.  Anglia." 


THE  COLONIAL  ROUTINE.  157 

"With  the  Pilgrims,  faith  was  the  spur  of  labor ; 
and  this  active  enterprise  eased  and  conquered  all 
obstacles.  Still,  causes  for  solicitude  and  trials 
infinite  constantly  arose.  The  lean  condition  of 
their  larder  was  a  care  urgent  for  the  passing  time 
and  weighty  in  the  future  ;  and  to  this  anew  source 
of  anxiety  Avas  added.  In  the  depth  of  winter,  a 
report  was  bruited  that  active  hostilities  might  mo- 
mentarily be  looked  for,  fomented  by  the  restless 
enmity  of  the  Narragansetts.* 

That  the  Narragansetts  were  inimical  they  soon 
learned.  One  day  one  of  the  warriors  of  that  tribe 
entered  Plymouth,  and  announced  himself  to  be  a 
messenger  from  his  renowned  sagamore  Canonicus. 
He  asked  for  Squanto,  but  seemed  pleased  when 
told  that  he  was  absent.  He  said  he  had  a  pack- 
age for  Squanto.  This  consisted  of  a  bundle  of 
new  arrows,  wrapped  in  a  rattlesnake's  skin.  It 
was  enigmatical  to  the  English ;  but,  suspicious 
that  it  could  not  be  the  Indian  olive-branch,  and 
might  mean  mischief,  Standish  detained  the  mes- 
senger as  he  was  about  to  quit  the  settlement,  and 
determined  to  hold  him  until  Squanto's  return 
should  solve  the  riddle. t 

At  first  the  savage  was  frightened ;  but  after  a 
little,  seeing  that  his  captors  meant  him  no  harm, 
he  became  quite  friendly,  and  began  to  chat.  The 
Pilgrims  learned  from  him,  that  an  envoy  whom 
they  had  despatched  to  negotiate  a  peace  with  the 
Narragansetts,  in  the  preceding  summer,  had  played 
«  Winslow's  Good  News  from  New  England.  f  Ibid. 


158  THE  PILGRIM  FATHEES. 

Judas,  and  betrayed  his  trust.  Witliliolding  from 
Cauonicus  the  presents  which  the  colonists  had 
sent  him  as  tokens  of  amity,  he  had  used  his  influ- 
ence to  kindle  a  war.  The  imprisoned  runner  said 
Canonicus  would  not  have  uttered  sinister  threats, 
had  he  thought  the  English  friendly  to  him.  When 
he  returned,  and  informed  the  Narragansetts  of  the 
real  sentiments  of  the  pale  faces,  firm  jjeace  would 
come.* 

Somewhat  affected  by  these  representations, 
Bradford  concluded  to  release  the  Indian ;  previ- 
ous to  which,  however,  he  bade  the  envoy  inform 
Canonicus  that  the  pale  faces  had  heard  of  his 
threats,  and  were  offended ;  that  they  desired  tc 
live  in  amity  with  their  red  brothers;  yet  if  any 
warlike  demonstrations  were  made,  they  would  be 
prepared  to  meet  them.f 

Then  the  governor  urged  the  savage  to  take 
some  food ;  but  he  was  too  anxious  to  quit  the 
dangerous  vicinage  to  remain  a  moment  after  his 
liberation ;  so,  after  expressing  his  gratitude,  he 
immediately  set  out,  in  the  midst  of  a  driving  storm, 
to  find  his  way  through  the  white,  shivering  De- 
cember woods  to  his  wigwam  and  his  people.:]: 

When  Squanto  came  in,  the  settlers  at  once 
crowded  about  him,  and  showing  him  the  spliynx- 
like  Indian  package,  asked  him  to  spell  the  riddle. 
With  a  laugh  and  a  shrug,  he  explained  that  it  ex- 
pressed enmity,  and  was  the  red  man's  declaration 

*  Winslow's  Good  News  from  New  England.     Banvard,  p.  70. 
t  Winslow  in  Young.  X  Ibid.     Banvard. 


THE  COLONIAL  KOUTINE.  159 

of  war.  The  settlers  were  startled ;  all  adjourned 
to  tlie  fort ;  and  here,  after  deliberation,  it  was  re- 
solved to  meet  menace  by  menace.  They  thought, 
rightly,  that  a  determined  attitude  would  in  their 
case  be  safest ;  and  though  Bradford  had  no  anxi- 
ety to  pit  his  fifty-odd  men  against  the  five  thou- 
sand warriors  whom  Canouicus  could  muster,  he 
was  bold  and  defiant  in  appearance.* 

The  governor  filled  the  rattlesnake-skin  with 
powder  and  bullets,  and  despatched  it  to  the  Nar- 
ragansetts  by  a  special  messenger,  with  this  word : 
"  If  we  were  supplied  with  ships,  we  would  save  the 
Narragausett  sagamore  the  trouble  of  coming  so 
far  to  meet  us  by  sailing  to  him  in  his  own  domin- 
ions. As  it  is,  if  he  will  come  to  the  colony,  he  will 
find  us  ready  to  receive  him."t 

When  Canonicus  heard  this  message,  he  was 
profoundly  impressed  with  the  courage  of  his  pale- 
face neighbors ;  and  when  the  skin  was  tendered 
him,  he  refused  to  receive  it ;  but  the  Pilgrim  en- 
voy would  not  take  it  back ;  so  it  was  passed  from 
hand  to  hand  among  the  Narragansetts,  till  finally, 
pushed  from  the  forest  by  superstitious  fear,  it 
■cached  the  Plymouth  settlement  nnopened.X 

Though  this  prompt  action  cowed  the  Narra- 
gansetts for  a  time,  the  rumor  of  intended  hostili- 
ties continued  to  vex  the  colonists  through  the  win- 
ter. "  This  made  them  the  more  careful  to  look  to 
themselves ;  so  they  agreed  to  enclose  their  dwell- 

*  Winslow  in  Young,  Banvard,  Bradford. 

t  Winslow  in  Young,  Eanvard.  \  Ibid.,  Bradford. 


r 


160  THE  PILGKIM  FATHERS. 

ings  with  a  strong  pale,  with  flankers  in  convenient 
spots,  and  gates  to  shut,  which  were  every  night 
locked,  and  a  Avatcli  kept ;  when  need  required, 
there  was  also  warding  through  the  day.  The 
company,  by  the  advice  of  Standish  and  the  gov- 
ernor, was  divided  into  four  squadrons ;  and  every 
man  had  his  position  assigned  him,  to  which  he 
was  to  repair  in  case  of  sudden  alarm.  If  there 
should  be  a  cry  of  fire,  a  squad  Avas  appointed  for 
a  guard,  with  muskets,  whilst  others  quenched  the 
flames.  All  this  was  accomplished  very  cheerfully ; 
and  to  prevent  Indian  treachery,  the  whole  town  was 
impaled  round  by  the  beginning  of  March,  while 
every  family  had  a  j)retty  garden-spot  secured."* 

The  Pilgrims  were  regularly  drilled  by  Standish, 
who  had  learned  the  science  of  war  in  Flanders. 
On  these  occasions,  part  of  the  exercises  consisted 
in  a  general  rush,  each  man  to  his  station,  and  a 
simultaneous  discharge  of  musketry.  After  this, 
the  men  escorted  their  officers  to  their  cabins,  fired 
a  salute  in  their  honor,  and  then  dispersed.  -  This 
may  be  considered  "the  first  general  muster  in 
New  England."  It  was  the  germ  of  the  present 
militia  system  of  thirty-six  states.f 

This  dihgent  training  ere  long  moulded  the  Pil- 
grims into  a  finely  disciplined  company ;  and  they 
were  quite  proud  of  their  proficiency  in  arms.    Thus 

"Spake,  iu  the  pride  of  his  heart,  Miles  Standish,  the  captain  of 
Plj'mouth  : 
'Look  at  these  arms,'  he  said,  'the  warlike  weapons  that  hang 
here, 

*  Bradford,  pp.  Ill,  112.  f  Banvard,  p.  72. 


THE  COLONIAL  ROUTINE.  ISI 

Burnished,  and  bright,  and  clean,  as  if  for  parade  or  inspec- 
tion. 

This  is  the  s^yord  of  Damascus  I  fought  with  in  Flanders.  This 
breastplate — 

Well  I  remember  the  day — once  saved  my  life  in  a  skirmish. 

There  in  front  you  can  see  the  very  dint  of  the  bullet 

Fired  point-blank  at  my  heart  by  a  Spanish  Arcabucero. 

Had  it  not  been  of  shear-steel,  the  forgotten  bones  of  Miles  Stan- 
dish 

Would  at  this  moment  be  mould  in  their  gi'ave  in  the  Flemish 
morasses. 

Look!  you  can  see  from  this  window  my  brazen  howitzer, 
planted 

High  on  the  roof  of  the  church — a  preacher  who  .speaks  to  the 
purpose. 

Steady,  straight  forward,  and  strong,  with  irresistible  logic  ; 

Orthodox,  flashing  conviction  right  into  the  hearts  of  the  hea- 
then. 

Now  we  are  ready,  I  think,  for  an  assault  of  the  Indians. 

Let  them  come,  if  they  like,  and  the  sooner  they  try  it  the  better. 

Let  them  come,  if  they  like,  be  it  sagamore,  si^chem,  or  pow- 
wow, 

Aspinet  Samoset,  Corbitant,  Squanto,  or  Tokamahamon. '  "* 

When,  in  the  preceding  summer,  the  Pilgrims 
had  visited  Massachusetts  bay,  they  had  promised 
the  tribes  in  that  vicinity  to  come  again  in  the  next 
spring  and  renew  a  trade  with  them.  Now,  in  the 
latter  part  of  March,  Standish  and  his  friends  com- 
menced preparations  for  this  voyage.  Humors,  con- 
stantly renewed,  still  foreboded  an  outbreak  against 
the  peace  and  safety  of  the  little  commonwealth ; 
and  though  the  winter  had  been  spent  without  the 
3'ell  of  the  war-whoop,  Bradford's  fast  friend,  Hab- 
bamak,  strongly  advised  against  the  expedition  of 
Standish,  since  he  feared   that   the   northeastern 

*  Longfellow's  Miles  Stan  dish's  Courtship,  pp.  9-12. 


162  THE  PILGEIM  FATHERS. 

tribes  were  in  close  league  with  the  Narragansetts, 
and  anxious  to  precipitate  a  war.* 

Finally  the  colonists  concluded  to  undertake 
the  expedition,  but  to  do  so  with  extreme  caution.t 
Accordingly,  Standish  embarked.  He  had  not 
sailed  far,  ere  he  was  becalmed.  Suddenly  he 
heard  a  cannon-shot,  the  signal  of  danger.  In- 
stantly putting  about,  he  bade  his  men  row  with 
their  titmost  strength  and  skill.  Soon  Plymouth 
was  reached,  and  Standish  learned  that,  just  as  he 
had  sailed,  an  Indian,  one  of  Squanto's  family,  had 
brought  word  that  the  Narragansetts,  with  Corbitant 
and  Massasoit,  were  marching  on  the  settlement.:}: 
Habbamak  was  confident  that,  even  if  this  tale  were 
true,  Massasoit  was  not  on  the  war-path  ;  so  confi- 
dent, that  he  sent  his  squaw,  under  pretence  of 
some  message,  to  spy  out  the  facts  in  the  great 
sagamore's  village.§ 

Meantime  watch  was  kept  through  the  night, 
and  the  whole  settlement  rested  on  its  arms.ll 

Nothing  came  of  it  all ;  not  an  Indian  appeared ; 
and  when  Habbamak's  wife  returned,  she  said  that 
she  found  Massasoit  at  home  and  quiet.l  "After 
this,"  says  Bradford,  "the  traders  i^roceeded  on 
their  voyage,  and  had  a  good  trafiic ;  returning  in 
safety,  blessed  by  God."** 

From  various  circumstances,  the  settlers  began 

«  Winslow  in  Young.     Bradford.  t  ^^i*!- 

i  Bradford,  p.  113.  §  Ibid.     Winslow. 

II  Ibid.     Young's  Chronicles.     Thatcher's  Plymouth. 
%  Ibid.  ="  Prince. 


THE   COLONIAL  EOUTINE.  163 

to  suspect  that  Squanto  "  sought  his  own  euds  and 
plajed  his  own  game"  in  his  relations  with  them. 
He  was  the  most  travelled  and  learned  of  the  In- 
dians, and  with  the  spirit  of  braggadocio  and  the 
love  of  great  stories  common  to  his  race,  and  also 
to  his  white  prototypes,  he  was  fond  of  working  on 
the  fears  of  his  more  ignorant  and  credulous  broth- 
ers of  the  wood,  by  boasting  of  his  influence  with 
the  pale  faces,  by  reciting  wild  and  terror-striking 
stories  of  the  magical  power  of  the  English,  and  by 
oifering  to  insure  the  peace  and  security  of  all  who 
bought  his  services.* 

In  this  way  Squanto  drove  quite  a  trade,  the 
patent  for  his  truth  being  his  knowledge  and  sin- 
gular European  adventures. 

"  These  English,"  he  would  say  to  a  wondering 
and  superstitious  group  of  Indians,  "  are  a  wise 
and  powerful  people.  Diseases  are  at  their  com- 
mand. They  have  now  buried  under  their  store- 
house the  plague.  They  can  send  it  forth  to  any 
place  or  upon  any  people  they  please,  and  sweep 
them  all  away,  though  they  went  not  a  step  from 
home."t  "  Ugh  !  ugh  !"  would  be  the  responses  of 
the  gaping  believers.  Many  was  the  skin,  many 
the  piece  of  wampum,  given  Squanto  to  purchase 
his  powerful  intercession  on  their  behalf,  to  laj  the 
plague  of  the  pale-face  magicians. 

Once  Squanto,  being  sent  for  by  the  governor, 
entered  the  house  accompanied  by  Habbamak  and 
several  other  Indians.     A  hole  had  been  dug  in  the 

*  Bradford,  p.  113.  t  Banvard,  pp.  76,  77. 


104  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEES. 

floor  for  the  purpose  of  concealing  certain  articles, 
and  the  ground  was  left  in  a  broken  state.     Hab- 
bamak,  glancing  at  it,  asked  Squanto, 
"  What  does  that  mean  ?" 

"  That,"  retorted  the  wily  sachem,  "  is  the  place 
where  the  plague  is  buried  that  I  told  you  about." 
Habbamak,  to  satisfy  himself  of  the  truth  or 
falsity  of  this  statement,  asked  one  of  the  settlers, 
shortly  after,  if  this  was  so. 

"No,"  said  the  stern,  truthful  Puritan;  "we 
have  not  the  plague  at  our  command ;  but  the  God 
whom  we  worship  has,  and  he  can  send  it  forth  to 
the  destruction  both  of  his  enemies  and  ours."* 

Having  learned  these  things,  the  Pilgrims  spared 
no  pains  to  contradict  Squanto's  misstatements ;  and 
so  angered  were  the  neighboring  tribes,  all  of  whom 
he  had  repeatedly  swindled  and  misled,  that  Mas- 
sasoit  and  Habbamak  both  strenuously  insisted 
upon  putting  him  to  death ;  for  the  American  In- 
dian forgave  any  thing  sooner  than  an  attempt  to 
cheat  him;  in  which  he  was  unlike  civilized  com- 
munities, which  often  admire  in  jDroportion  as  they 
are  cozened,  and  frown  on  and  resent  nothing  but 
a  clumsy  cheat. 

But  Squanto,  with  all  his  faults,  was  too  useful 
to  the  Pilgrims  to  be  surrendered  to  the  cruel  ven- 
geance of  his  foes;  so  he  was  saved  from  death, 
though  not  without  difficulty,  and  at  the  risk  of 
estranging  Massasoit.f 

This   made   the   rescued   sachem    "walk   more 
*  Banvard,  pp.  76,  77.        f  Winslow  in  Young.     Banvard. 


THE  COLONIAL  EOUTINE.  165 

squarely,  and  cleave  unto  the  Euglisli  till  lie  died." 
There  was  great  jealousy  between  Squaiito  and 
Habbamak.  Both  were  competitors  for  the  good- 
will of  tJie  Pilgrims;  and  of  this  emulation  good 
use  was  made.  The  governor  seemed  to  counte- 
nance the  one,  and  the  captain  the  other,  by  which 
ruse  the  colonists  got  better  intelligence,  and  kept 
the  two  scouts  more  diligent.* 

Towards  the  latter  part  of  May,  1622,  the  scanty 
provisions  of  the  Pilgrims  quite  gave  out.  Actual 
hunger  began  to  pinch.  The  wild  fowl,  so  plenty 
in  the  preceding  season,  were  now  grown  shy  of 
Plymouth,  and  could  not  be  found.  Their  hooks 
and  seines  for  fishing  were  worn  out.  It  was  yet 
hardly  time  to  plant,  as  the  frost  still  clutched  the 
soil  in  its  icy  hand ;  and  even  if  it  were,  weary 
weeks  must  elapse  ere  a  crop  could  be  reaped. 
The  future  looked  black,  yet  even  in  this  strait 
they  trusted  in  God,  "  knowing  that  he  would  not 
desert  his  own."t 

While  the  Pilgrims  were  thus  perplexed  to  know 
where  their  next  mouthful  was  to  come  from,  they 
espied  one  day  a  shallop  off  their  harbor.  It  j)roved 
to  be  a  boat  from  a  ship  sent  by  Thomas  Weston 
to  fish  off  the  coast  of  Maine.  It  contained  six  or 
seven  passengers  and  a  parcel  of  home  letters.^ 

These  emigrants,  like  those  who  came  in  the 
"  Fortune,"  were  destitute  of  provisions,  and  the 
colonists  were  requested  by  Weston  to  provide  for 
their  necessities.     Despite  their  own  wants,  "  they 

*  Bradford,  p.  114.  f  Ibid.,  p.  124.  %  Ibid.,  114. 


163  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

took  compassion  on  the  needy  new-comers,  and  in 
this  famine  gave  them  as  good  as  any  of  their 


own."^ 


The  Pilgrims  got  cold  comfort  from  their  letter- 
bag,  "  Some  of  the  adventurers,"  wrote  "Weston, 
"  have  sent  you  herewith  some  directions  for  your 
furtherance  in  the  common  good.  It  seems  to  me 
that  they  are  like  those  St.  James  speaks  of,  that 
bade  their  brother  eat  and  warm  himself,  but  gave 
him  nothing ;  so  they  bid  you  make  salt  and  uphold 
the  plantation,  but  send  you  no  means  wherewithal 
to  do  it.  Soon  I  purpose  to  send  more  people  on 
my  own  account."t 

It  seemed  from  other  letters,  that  the  company 
of  Merchant-adventurers  was  exhausting  its  energy 
in  internal  bickerings.  Nothing  was  said  about 
forwarding  the  remainder  of  the  congregation  at 
Leyden ;  nothing  was  promised  for  the  future ;  a 
simple  command  was  sent,  that  the  colonists  should 
assent  to  the  breakage  of  the  joint-stock  contract, 
and  despatch  to  them  a  paper  to  that  effect,  ratified 
and  certified.J 

"  AU  this,"  says  Bradford,  "  was  cold  comfort 
to  fill  their  empty  bellies ;  and  on  the  part  of  Mr. 
"Weston,  but  a  slender  performance  of  his  late  prom- 
ise never  to  forsake  the  colony  ;§  and  as  little  did  it 
fill  and  warm  cold  and  hungry  men,  as  those  the 

*  Bradford,  p.  114.  f  Cited  in  Bradford,  pp.  115,  116. 

J  Bradford,  p.  116.     By  the  third  article  of  the  agreement,  this 
was  permitted  to  be  done  by  general  consent.    See  Bradford,  p.  46. 
§  Chap.  10.  p.  137. 


THE   COLONIAL  EOUTINE.  167 

apostle  James  spoke  of,  by  "Weston  before  men- 
tioned. Well  might  it  remind  the  settlers  of  what 
the  psalmist  saith,  '  It  is  better  to  trust  in  the  Lord 
than  to  have  confidence  in  man.'*  And  again, 
'  Put  not  your  trust  in  princes ' — much  less  in  mer- 
chants— '  nor  in  the  son  of  man ;  for  there  is  no 
help  in  them.'t  '  Blessed  is  he  that  hath  the  God 
of  Jacob  for  his  help,  whose  hope  is  in  the  Lord 
his  God-'t 

"  These  things  seemed  strange  to  the  settlers. 
Seeing  this  inconsistency  and  shufSing,  it  made 
them  think  there  was  some  mystery  at  bottom. 
Therefore  the  governor,  fearing  lest,  in  their  straits, 
this  news  should  tend  to  disband  and  scatter  the 
colony,  concealed  these  letters  from  the  public,  and 
only  imparting  them  to  some  trusty  friends  for  ad- 
vice, concluded  for  the  present  to  keep  all  quiet, 
and  await  the  development  of  events."§ 

*  Psalm  118  : 8.  f  I^^l.  146  : 3.  t  Ibid,  verse  5. 

§  Bradford,  pp.  IIG,  117. 


103  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 


CHAPTEE   XIV. 

THE   RIVAL   COLONIES 

"Look  here,  upon  this  picture,  and  on  this." 

Shakspeabe,  Hamlet. 

It  was  towards  the  close  of  May,  1622,  that  the 
seven  pioneers  from  Weston's  fishing  smack  had 
landed  at  Plymouth.  About  a  month  later,  in  the 
end  of  June  or  beginning  of  July,  a  new  colony  ar- 
rived. Two  vessels,  the  "  Charity"  and  the  "Swan," 
rounded  Cape  Cod  and  anchored  off  the  Pilgrim 
settlement,*  They  brought  out  a  fresh  batch  of 
home  letters,  which  Bradford  and  his  coadjutors 
eagerly  opened,  hoiking  to  discover  the  hidden 
meaning  of  these  strange  movements. 

Weston's  missive  was  first  searched.  It  was  to 
this  effect:  "The  'Fortune'  is  arrived,  whose  good 
news  touching  your  estate  and  proceedings  I  am 
very  glad  to  hear.  And  howsoever  she  was  robbed 
on  the  way  by  the  Frenchmen,  I  hojoe  your  loss  will 
not  be  great,  for  the  conceit  of  a  vast  return  doth 
animate  the  merchants.  As  for  myself,  I  have  sold 
my  adventure  and  debts  unto  them,  so  I  am  quit  of 
you  and  you  of  me.  Now,  though  I  have  nothing 
to  pretend  as  an  adventurer  among  you,  yet  I  will 
advise  you  a  little  for  your  good,  if  you  can  appre- 
hend it.     I  perceive  and  know  as  well  as  any  one 

*  Smith's   General  Historj',   folio  ed.,   p.   236.     Winslow  in 
Young,  p.  296. 


THE  RIVAL  COLONIES.  169 

the  disposition  of  the  Merchant-adventurers,  whom 
the  hope  of  gain  hath  drawn  on  to  this  they  have 
done ;  yet  that  hope  will  not  draw  them  much  far- 
ther. Besides,  most  of  them  are  against  the  send- 
ing of  the  Leyden  congregation,  for  whose  cause 
this  business  was  first  begun;  and  some  of  the  most 
religious  of  the  company  except  against  them  for, 
their  creed."* 

This  presaged  disaster,  and  Weston's  desertion 
after  his  volunteer  promises,  made  the  Pilgrims 
l^rofoundly  sad.  Next  a  letter  from  two  of  the 
Merchant-adventurers  was  read.  This  warned  the 
colonists  to  beware  of  Weston,  as  one  who  sought 
his  own  single  end,  and  "  whom  the  company  had 
bought  out  and  were  glad  to  be  quit  of."t 

Then  a  letter  from  their  old  friend  Cushman  was 
opened.  "  Weston,"  he  said,  "  hath  quite  broken 
off  from  our  company,  and  hath  now  sent  two  small 
ships  on  his  own  venture  for  a  new  plantation.  The 
people  which  they  carry  are  no  men  for  us,  wherefore 
I  pray  you,  entertain  them  not.  If  they  offer  to  buy 
any  thing  of  you,  let  it  be  such  as  you  can  spare, 
and  make  them  give  the  worth  of  it.  'Tis  like  they 
will  plant  to  the  south  of  the  cape.  I  fear  these  peo- 
ple will  deal  harshly  with  the  savages.  I  pray  you 
signify  to  Squanto  that  they  are  a  distinct  body 
from  us,  and  that  we  have  nothing  to  do  with  them, 
neither  must  be  blamed  for  their  faults,  nor  can 
warrant  their  fidelity.":}: 

*  Cited  in  cvienso  iu  Bradford,  pp.  118.  119. 
t  Ibid.,  pp.  119,  120.  ±  Ibid..  122.  123. 

8 


170  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEES. 

"Weston  had  overlianled  these  letters,  and  so 
become  familiar  with  their  contents.  After  criti- 
cising them  severely,  he  added :  "  Now  if  yoii  be  of 
the  mind  of  these  writers,  deal  plainly  with  us,  and 
we  will  seek  our  residence  elsewhere.  If  you  are 
friendly,  as  we  have  thought  you  to  be,  give  us  the 
entertainment  of  friends.  I  shall  leave  in  the  coun- 
try a  little  ship — if  God  send  her  safe  thither — with 
mariners  and  fishermen,  who  shall  coast  and  trade 
with  the  salvages  and  the  old  plantation.  It  may  be 
that  we  shaU  be  as  helpful  to  you  as  you  to  us.  I 
think  I  shall  see  you  in  person  next  sj^ring."'^ 

The  Pilgrims  were  in  a  quandary.  They  stood 
on  the  verge  of  starvation.  The  recent  comers  had 
brought  out  no  stock  of  provisions,  but  were  dumped 
destitute  upon  the  charit}^  of  those  whom  they  had 
come  to  supplant.  "As  for  the  harsh  censures  and 
suspicious  intimated  in  these  letters,"  remarks  Brad- 
ford, "  they  desired  to  judge  as  charitably  and  wisely 
of  them  as  they  could,  weighing  them  in  the  balance 
of  love  and  reason ;  and  though  the  epistles  of  warn- 
ing came  from  godly  and  loving  friends,  yet  they 
conceived  that  many  things  might  arise  from  over- 
deep  jealousy  and  fear,  together  with  unmeet  provo- 
cation ;  though  they  well  saw  that  Weston  pursued 
his  own  ends,  and  was  embittered  in  spirit.  All 
these  things  they  pondered  and  well  considered,  yet 
concluded  to  give  his  men  friendly  entertainment ; 
partly  in  regard  to  that  gentleman's  past  kindness, 
and  partly  in  compassion  to  the  people  who  were  now 

*  Cited  in  e.iienso  in  Bmdford   nt  antea. 


THE  EIVAL  COLONIES.  171 

come  into  the  wilderness — as  themselves  were — and 
were  by  their  ships  to  be  presently  put  ashore ;  for 
they  were  to  carry  other  passengers  into  Virginia  ;* 
and  they  were  altogether  unacquainted,  and  knew 
not  what  to  do.  So,  as  they  had  received  Weston's 
former  company  of  seven  men,  and  victualed  them 
as  their  own,  now  they  also  received  these,  being 
about  sixty  lusty  men,  and  gave  housing  for  them- 
selves and  their  goods  ;  and  many,  being  sick,  had 
the  best  the  place  could  afford  them."t 

Of  course,  so  great  and  unexpected  an  accession 
of  numbers  added  vastly  to  the  embarrassment  of 
the  Pilgrims,  and  "  amidst  these  straits,  and  the 
desertion  of  those  from  whom  they  had  expected  a 
supply,  when  fjimine  began  to  pinch  them  sore  they 
knew  not  what  course  to  take."  But  God  stood 
behind  the  cloud,  "  keeping  watch  above  his  own." 
One  day  a  boat  came  into  Plymouth,  and  brought 
word  of  a  massacre  in  Virginia,:}:  and  gave  a  warn- 
ing to  the  New  England  colonists.  The  kind  sender 
of  this  message  was  captain  of  a  fishing-smack  then 
fishing  off  the  Maine  coast.§ 

"When  this  boat  returned,  "  the  governor  sent 
back  a  thankful  answer,  as  was  meet,  and  also  de- 
spatched the  shallop  of  the  colony  in  its  company, 
in  which  was  Edward  Winslow,  whose  object  was  to 

*  The  vessels  were  gone  most  of  the  summer. 

t  Bradford,  pp.  123,  124. 

J  This  massacre  occurred  on  the  22d  of  March,  1622.  Smith 
says  that  three  hundred  and  fifty  settlers  were  slain.  General 
Hist.,  pp.  144-149. 

§  Bradford. 


172  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEES. 

secure  what  provisions  he  conld  from  the  fishermen. 
He  was  kindly  received  by  the  mentor  captain,  who 
.not  only  spared  what  he  could  of  his  own  stock, 
but  wrote  others  to  do  the  same.  By  these  means 
Winslow  got  some  good  quantity,  and  returned  in 
safety;  whereby  the  plantation  had  a  double  bene- 
fit ;  first,  a  refreshing  by  the  food  brought ;  and 
secondly,  they  knew  the  way  to  those  parts  for  their 
benefit  hereafter.  Still,  what  was  got  and  this  small 
boat  brought,  being  divided  among  so  many,  came 
but  to  little,  yet,  by  God's  blessing,  it  upheld  them 
till  harvest."*  The  daily  allowance  was  a  quarter 
of  a  pound  of  bread  to  each  person ;  and  this  the 
governor  doled  out,  for  had  it  not  been  in  his  cus- 
tody, it  would  have  been  eaten  up  and  all  had 
starved  ;  but  thus,  with  what  eels  they  could  catch, 
they  "  made  pretty  shift  till  corn  was  ripe."t 

The  Pilgrims  soon  perceived  the  truth  of  Cush- 
man's  estimate  of  the  character  of  Weston's  colo- 
nists, and  found,  indeed,  that  "  they  Avere  not  the 
men  for  them."  In  the  lump  they  were  a  rude,  pro- 
fane, improvident,  thievish  set,  and  peculiarly  unfit 
to  be  the  founders  of  a  state.:};  They  ate  of  the 
bounty  of  their  entertainers,  wasted  their  corn, 
brought  riot  and  profanity  into  the  quiet,  devout 
homes  of  the  Pilgrims,  and  repaid  kindness  by 
backbiting  and  reviling.§  Their  coming  was  purely 
a  business  affair.    It  Avas  a  speculation.    It  was  en- 

*  Bradford,  p.  125.  f  Ibid.     Winslow  in  Young. 

J  Thatcher's  Plymouth,  Prince's  Annals,  Banvard. 
§  Banvard,  p.  82. 


THE   RIVAL  COLONIES.  173 

tirely  destitute  of  every  religious  element,  though 
it  abouiKled  with  irreligious  ones.  Fearing  neither 
God  nor  man,  they  hated  the  Puiitaus,  and  ought 
never  to  be  confounded  with  the  Forefathers,^'  They 
were,  in  fact, 

"  A  lazy,  lolling  sort, 
Unseen  at  church,  at  senate,  or  at  court, 
Of  ever-listless  loiterers,  that  attend 
No  cause,  no  trust,  no  duty,  and  no  friend. "f 

These  godless  drones  remained  at  Pljanouth 
most  of  the  summer,  until  their  ships  came  back 
from  Virginia. I  Then,  under  Weston's  direction, 
or  that  of  some  one  whom  he  had  set  in  authority 
over  them,  these  pests  removed  into  Massachusetts 
Bay,  and  selecting  a  spot  called  by  the  Indians 
Wessagusset,  now  Weymouth,  they  essayed  to  j^lant 
a  settlement.§  "  Yet  they  left  all  their  sickly  folks 
with  us,  to  be  nursed  and  cared  for,"  says  Brad- 
ford, "  till  they  were  settled  and  housed.  But  of 
their  stores  they  gave  us  nothing,  though  we  did 
greatly  want,  nor  any  thing  else  in  recompense  of 
our  courtesy;  neither  did  we  desire  it,  for  'twas 
seen  that  they  were  an  unruly  company,  having  no 
good  government, — sure  soon  to  fall  into  want  by 
disorder.  "II 

Such  a  colony  "  was  not,  nor  could  it  come  to 
good,"  Mismanagement  and  lazy  improvidence  in- 
vited penury.  Ere  long  they  ran  foul  of  the  Indi- 
ans ;  already  the  bane  of  the  Pilgrims,  they  speedily 
became  a  pest  among  the  savages,  whom  they  robbed 

o  Banvard,  p.  82.  f  Pope.  J  Bradford. 

§  Weston  in  Young,  Thi»tcher,  Prince.  ||  Bradford. 


174  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEES. 

and  swindled  without  conscience.  In  this  way  tbey 
exasperated  the  Indians,  and  bj  their  bad  courses 
were  nigh  bringing  ruin  on  their  neighbors  as  well 
as  on  themselves.*  On  one  occasion  they  stood  j)ro- 
visionless.  They  could  expect  no  succor  from  the 
natives,  and  they  had  despoiled  every  Indian  corn- 
field in  their  vicinity.  In  this  extremity,  Sanders, 
their  chief  man,  sent  to  inform  Bradford  of  his  in- 
tention to  get  some  corn  from  the  Indians  by  force. 
The  Pilgrims  sent  back  a  strong  protest  against  the 
pillage ;  advised  the  new  planters  to  make  shift  to 
live,  as  they  did,  on  ground-nuts,  clams,  and  muscles ; 
and  from  their  own  well-nigh  exhausted  storehouse 
sent  their  disorderly  and  wasteful  rivals  a  supply 
of  corn.t 

This  stock  was  soon  gone  ;  then  the  Westonians 
desired  the  Pilgrims  to  unite  with  them  in  an  ex- 
pedition to  the  Indian  settlements  on  the  coast  line, 
in  search  of  corn,  beans,  and  other  kindred  com- 
modities. They,  not  unwilling  to  assist  the  needy 
planters  in  all  honest  ways,  assented,  and  terms  of 
agreement  were  signed  designating  the  division  of 
the  articles  obtained.:]:  Detachments  from  both 
colonies  embarked  in  the  "  Swan,"  the  smaller  of 
"Weston's  vessels,  and  the  shallop  was  also  taken. 
Squanto  accompanied  the  forage  as  interpreter.§ 
The  Indians  were  very  shy  and  could  hardly  be  ap- 
proached.     But  finally  the  kindness  and  tact  of 

•  Cotton  Mather,  Magnalia,  vol.  1,  p.  58. 

t  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  200.     Prince,  Thatcher. 

t  Banvard.  §  Ibid. 


THE   KIVAL  COLONIES.  175 

Bradford  and  Standisli  thawed  their  icy  reserve, 
so  that  the  enterprise  was  crowned  with  success. 
Twenty-seven  hogsheads  of  corn  and  beans  were 
bought."  Owing  to  the  stranding  of  the  shallop, 
the  Plymouth  governor  was  coropelled  to  foot  it 
home,  some  fifty  miles ;  but  he  "  received  all  the 
respect  that  could  be  from  the  Indians  on  the 
journey."t 

The  "Swan"  returned,  a  day  or  two  later,  with 
the  provisions,  and,  after  their  distribution,  Wes- 
ton's men  sailed  from  Pljmouth  in  her  to  their 
plantation.  :|: 

This  was  destined  to  be  Squanto's  last  service. 
A  violent  fever,  which  struck  him  on  the  expedition, 
soon  laid  him  low.  "  Pray  for  me,"  said  the  dying 
Indian  to  Governor  Bradford,  "  pray  for  me,  that  I 
may  go  to  the  white  man's  God  in  heaven."  Shortly 
after,  he  distributed  various  trinkets  among  his 
English  friends  as  memorials,  and  expired.§  De- 
spite his  pranks  and  vanity,  Squanto  was  a  true 
friend  to  the  Pilgrims,  and  his  loss  was  a  severe 
blow  to  the  colonial  interests.il 

Immediately  on  recovering  from  the  fatigue  in- 
cident to  the  late  voyage,  the  Pilgrims  went  out  into 
their  fields  to  reap  the  harvest.  The  crop  was  slen- 
der, owing  partly  to  the  ignorance  of  the  planters 
of  the  culture  of  Indian  corn ;  partly  to  their  many 
other  employments ;   but  chiefly  to  their  inability 

*  Thatcher,  Wiuslow  iu  Young.  f  Ibid. 

J  Banvard.  §  Banvard,  Bradford. 

II  Thatcher,  Winslow  in  Young. 


176  THE  PILGEIM  FATHERS. 

properly  to  attend  it,  caused  by  weakness  from  want 
of  food.^ 

It  was  apparent  that  famine  must  be  entailed 
upon  tlie  next  year  also,  unless  some  other  source 
of  supply  should  be  opened.  This  seemed  impos- 
sible. There  were  no -markets;  and  they  were  out 
of  trinkets  for  their  Indian  traffic.  "  Behold  now 
another  providence  of  God,"  says  Bradford;  "a 
ship  sent  out  by  English  merchants  to  discover  all 
the  harbors  betwixt  Virginia  and  the  shoals  of  Cape 
Cod,  and  to  trade  along  the  coast  where  it  could, 
entered  our  bay.  She  had  on  board  a  store  of 
beads — which  were  then  good  trade — and  some 
knives,  but  the  crew  would  sell  nothing  save  in  the 
bunch  and  at  high  prices.  However,  we  bought  of 
them,  and  by  this  means  were  fitted  again  to  trade 
for  beaver  and  for  corn  with  the  red  men,"t 

In  this  same  summer  a  new  fort  was  built,  "both 
strong  and  comely,  which  Avas  a  sure  defence." 
Isaac  De  Kasieres,  who  visited  Plymouth  at  a 
somewhat  later  day,  has  left  this  description  of  the 
block  citadel :  "  Upon  the  hill  they  have  a  large 
square  house,  with  a  flat  roof,  made  of  thick-sawn 
planks,  stayed  with  oak-beams.  On  the  top  are 
ranged  six  cannon,  which  shoot  iron-balls  of  four 
or  five  pounds,  and  command  the  surrounding 
country.  The  lower  part  they  use  for  their  church, 
where  j^reaching  is  had  on  Sundays  and  the  usual 
hoHdays.  The  settlers  assemble  by  beat  of  drum, 
each  with  his  musket  or  firelock,  in  front  of  the 
«  Bradford.  j-  ibid. 


THE  EIVAL  COLONIES  177 

captain's  door ;  they  have  their  cloaks  on,  and 
place  themselves  in  order,  three  abreast,  and  are 
led  by  a  sergeant  without  beat  of  drum.  Behind 
comes  the  governor,  in  a  long  robe  ;  beside  him  on 
the  right  hand  walks  the  preacher,  and  on  the  left 
hand  the  captain,  Avith  his  side  arms  and  cloak  on, 
and  with  a  small  cane  in  his  hand.  So  they  march 
in  good  order,  and  on  reaching  the  fort  each  sets 
his  arms  down  near  him  and  within  easy  grasp."* 

An  open  Bible  in  one  hand,  a  shotted  musket  in 
the  other — such  was  the  manner  in  which  the  Pil- 
grim fathers  went  to  church. 

*  Cited  in  Kussell's  Guide  to  Plymouth,  p.  143. 


8* 


178  THE  PILGRIM  FATHEES. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

THE   EXPLOIT   OF   MILES  STANDISH. 

"And  wheu  they  talk  of  him,  they  shake  their  heads, 
And  whisper  one  another  in  the  ear  ; 
And  he  that  speaks  doth  gripe  the  hearer's  vrnnt ; 
AVhilst  he  that  hears  makes  tearful  action 
With  wrinkled  brows,  with  nods,  and  rolling  eyes." 

Shakspeake. 

One  short  twelvemonth  witnessed  the  birth  and 
the  death  of  Weston's  colony.  Its  cradle  was  its 
grave.  The  Westonians,  by  their  own  wickedness 
and  folly,  beckoned  ruin  and  blood  to  be  their 
guests.  The  ears  of  the  Pilgrims  ached  with  hsten- 
ing  to  the  Indians'  complaints  of  their  injustice  and 
robberies.  Not  a  day  passed  which  did  not  witness 
some  woful  scene  of  outrage."  Bradford  and  his 
coadjutors  talked  themselves  hoarse  in  denuncia- 
tion ;  messengers  ran  themselves  footsore  in  carry- 
ing protests  of  warning,  of  expostulation,  of  ap- 
peal, t 

"  Once,"  says  Cotton  Mather,  "  in  preaching  to 
a  congregation  there,  one  of  the  Pilgrims  urged 
these  settlers  to  approve  themselves  a  religious  com- 
munity, as  otherwise  they  would  contradict  the 
main  end  of  i^lanting  this  wilderness ;  whereupon 
a  well-known  individual,  then  in  the  assembly,  cried 

0  AVinslow  in  Young.     Thatcher,  Bradford. 

1  Prince,  Hubbard,  Bauvard. 


EXPLOIT  OF  MILES  STANDISH.   171) 

out,  '  Sir,  you  are  mistaken  ;  jou  think  you  are 
preaching  to  the  people  at  Plymouth  bay  :  our  main 
end  was  to  catch fsJi.'  "" 

The  scoifers  were  soon  to  learn,  under  the  bitter 
tuition  of  experience,  that  fish  are  a  slippery  foun- 
dation for  a  colony  to  build  on — not  so  firm  and 
sure  as  open  Bibles  and  common  schools. 

The  loose  morality  and  vicious  courses  of  their 
mischievous  neighbor-colonists  caused  the  Pilgrims 
infinite  trouble  and  unfeigned  grief.  And  now,  in 
the  midst  of  their  anxiety  on  this  account,  a  report 
gave  voice  to  the  dangerous  sickness  of  Massasoit  :t 
it  was  said  that  the  great  sagamore,  who  had  been 
their  faithful  friend,  could  not  survive.:]:  The  Plym- 
outh settlers  were  profoundly  sad ;  they  were  also 
somewhat  alarmed,  for  Corbitant,  their  former  open 
foe,  would,  so  tliey  were  told,  clutch  Massasoit's 
sceptre  and  wear  his  mantle  on  the  chieftain's 
death. §  The  Pilgrims  at  once  decided  to  send 
ambassadors  to  visit  Massasoit,  see  if  haply  some- 
thing might  not  be  done  for  him,  and,  in  case  of 
his  decease,  to  negotiate  a  new  peace  with  the  suc- 
ceeding sachem.ll 

For  this  service  Winslow  and  Habbamak  were 
selected ;  and  a  gentleman  who  had  wintered  in 
Plymouth,  and  who  was  desirous  of  seeing  the  In- 
dians in  their  wigwam-homes,  Mr.  John  Hampden,ir 

■^  Cotton  Mather,  Magnalia,  vol.  1,  p.  60. 

t  Wiuslow  iu  Young.     Bradford,  p.  131.  t  Ibid. 

§  Ibid.     Banvard,  p.  95. 

II  Banvard,  Winslow's  Good  News,  etc. 

II  "Mr.   Baylies,  in  his  Memoirs  of  Plymouth,  assumes  that 


180  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEES. 

was,  at  his  urgent  solicitation,  permitted  to  bear 
tliem  company.* 

They  set  out  at  once,  but  had  not  gone  very 
deej)  into  the  forest  ere  some  Indians,  whom  they 
met  at  a  river-ford,  told  them  that  Massasoit  was 
dead.  The  envoys  were  shocked  ;  and  Habbamak 
began  to  wail  forth  his  chief's  death-song :  "  Oh, 
great  sachem.  Oh,  great  heart,  with  many  have  I 
been  acquainted,  but  none  ever  equalled  thee." 
Then  turning  to  his  pale-face  friend,  he  said,  "  Oh, 
Master  Winslow,  his  like  you  will  never  see  again. 
He  was  not  like  other  Indians,  false  and  bloody 
and  implacable ;  but  kind,  easily  appeased  when 
angry,  and  reasonable  in  his  requirements.  He 
was  a  wise  sachem,  not  ashamed  to  ask  advice, 
governing  better  with  mild,  than  other  chiefs  did 
with  severe  measures.  I  fear  you  have  not  now 
one  faithful  friend  left  in  the  wigwams  of  the  red 
men."t  He  would  then  break  forth  again  in  loud 
lamentations,  "  enough,"  says  Winslow,  "  to  have 
made  the  hardest  heart  sob  and  wail.":}: 

But  time  pressed,  and  ."Winslow,  bidding  Hab- 
bamak "leave  wringing  of  his  hands,"  trudged  on 
over  the  patches  of  snow,  through  the  naked  for- 
ests shivering  in  the  gusty  winds  of  March,  under 
the  sullen  sky.  Corbitant's  lodge  was  near ;  here 
it  was  hoped  that  fuller  intelligence  might  be  gain- 

this  was  the  great  Hampdeu,  vol.  1,  p.  410.  I  find  no  fects  suffi- 
cient to  sustain  that  opinion."     Elliot,  vol.  1,  p.  93,  note. 

*  Elliot,  Bauvard,  "Winslow.  f  Winslow's  Good  News. 

I  Ibid. 


EXPLOIT  OF  MILES  STANDISH.       181 

ed.  Corbitant  was  not  at  home,  but  liis  squaw 
informed  them  that  Massasoit  was  not  yet  dead, 
tliough  he  could  scarcely  live  long  enough  to  per- 
mit his  visitors  to  close  his  eyes.* 

Keinvigorated  by  this  news,  and  persuaded  that 
while  there  was  life  there  was  hope,  the  envoys 
again  pressed  forward  with  eager  footsteps.  Soon 
Massasoit's  wigwam  was  reached.  A  cordon  of 
visitors  surrounded  it ;  and  so  great  was  the  crowd, 
that  it  was  with  difficulty  that  the  Pilgrims  pushed 
through  and  gained  an  entrance.  "When  they 
succeeded,  they  beheld  a  scene  so  repulsive  and  so 
annoying  as  to  be  quite  sufficient  to  banish  what- 
ever vitality  the  sick  sagamore  might  still  possess. 
Not  only  was  the  lodge  crammed  with  filthy  In- 
dians, whose  number  efiectually  excluded  all  fresh 
air,  but  the  pow-wows  were  busied  in  yelling  their 
magical  incantations,  now  rubbing  the  sick  sachem, 
now  wailing,  now  making  frantic  gestures ;  so  that, 
had  the  disease  possessed  intelligence  and  been 
cognizant  of  what  was  taking  place,  it  would  have 
been  effectually  frightaned  away.  Six  or  eight 
'medicine-men'  were  manipulating  him  at  once, 
and  his  ears  were  dinned  with  yells,  when  he  should 
have  been  perfectly  quiet."t 

When  the  pow-w.ows  had  concluded  their  super- 
stitious spells  and  exorcisms,  they  told  Massasoit 
that  Winslow  had  come  to  visit  him.  The  sick  In- 
dian, turning  on  his  skin  couch,  greeted  the  Eng- 
lishman kindly.  Disease  had  almost  choked  him, 
*  Winslow's  Good  News.  f  Banvarcl,  pp.  95,  96. 


182  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

and  quite  robbed  him  of  sight ;  he  was  indeed  near 
death.  Winslow  at  once  conveyed  the  assurance 
of  the  deep  grief  of  the  colonists  at  his  sickness, 
informed  him  that  the  pale-faces  had  sent  physic 
for  his  restoration  to  health,  and  offered  himself 
to  undertake  the  cure.  These  words,  being  trans- 
lated by  Habbamak,  the  Indian  at  once  and  cor- 
dially thanked  Winslow,  and  accepted  his  good 
offices.* 

The  skilful  Englishman,  with  a  "  confection  of 
many  comfortable  conserves,"  soon  worked  a  cure. 
The  convalescent  sagamore  said,  "  Now  I  know  that 
the  Enghsli  are  indeed  my  friends,  and  love  me ; 
w^hile  I  live  I  will  never  forget  this  kindness."t 
Nobly  did  he  keep  his  word ;  for,  after  requesting 
*' the  pale-face  medicine"  to  exercise  his  skill  upon 
others  of  his  tribe,  who  were  down  with  the  same 
disease  which  had  laid  him  low,  his  gratitude  w^as 
so  warm  that  he  disclosed  to  the  pale-face  leech  the 
fact  that  a  wide-spread  and  well-matured  conspir- 
acy was  afoot  to  exterminate  Weston's  colony,  in 
revenge  for  injuries  heaped'upon  the  Indians;  that 
all  the  northeastern  tribes  were  in  the  league ;  and 
that  the  massacre  was  to  cover  the  Pilgrims  also, 
lest  they  should  avenge  the  fall  of  their  neighbors. 
"  A  chief  was  here  at  the  setting  of  the  sun,"  added 
Massasoit,  "  and  he  told  me  that  the  pale-faces  did 
not  love  me,  else  they  would  visit  me  in  my  pain, 
and  he  urged  me  to  join  the  war  part}'.  But  I  said, 
No.    Now  if  you  take  the  chiefs  of  the  league,  and 

«  "Winslow's  Good  News.  t  Il>id- 


EXPLOIT  OF  MILES  STANDISH.       183 

kill  them,  it  will  end  the  war-trail  in  the  blood  of 
those  who  made  it,  and  save  the  settlements."* 

Thankful  to  Massasoit  for  this  disclosure,  and 
profoundly  impressed  with  its  importance,  the  en- 
voys speedily  bade  the  sagamore  good-b}^,  and 
started  for  Plymouth.  Beaching  Corbitant's  lodge 
towards  evening,  they  decided  to  sleep  with  him, 
"  We  found  him,"  says  Winslow,  "  a  notable  politi- 
cian, yet  full  of  merry  jests  and  squibs,  and  never 
better  pleased  than  when  the  like  are  turned  again 
on  him."t 

"  If  I  were  sick,  as  Massasoit  has  been,"  asked 
he,  "  would  Mr.  Governor  send  me  medicine  ?" 

"Yes,"  said  Winslow. 

*'  Would  you  bring  it  ?"  queried  Corbitant. 

"  Certainly,"  was  the  reply. 

At  this  the  sachem  was  delighted.  He  resumed 
his  questions. 

"  How  did  you  dare  to  go  so  far  into  our  hunt- 
ing-grounds, with  only  one  pale-face  and  Habba- 
mak?" 

"  Because,"  said  Winslow,  "  where  there  is  true 
love,  there  can  be  no  fear ;  my  heart  is  so  upright 
towards  the  Indians,  that  I  have  no  cause  to  fear  to 
go  among  them," 

"  If  vou  love  us-  so  much,"  retorted  the  shrewd 
chief,  "  why  is  it  that,  when  we  go  to  Plymouth, 
you  stand  on  guard,  and  present  the  mouths  of 
your  big  guns  at  us  ?" 

"  Oh,"  was  the  reply,  "  that 's  the  most  honor- 

*  Winslo-w's  Good  News.  ^j:  Ibid. 


184  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

able  reception  we  could  give  you.  'Tis  the  Euglisli 
way  of  saluting  clistinguislied  guests." 

"  Ugh,"  said  Corbitant,  with  the  peculiar  Indian 
grunt  and  shrug,  "  perhaps  ;  but  I  do  n't  like  such 
ways  of  shaking  hands."* 

Having  noticed  that  before  and  after  each  meal 
his  guests  offered  thanks,  Corbitant  asked  them  why 
they  did  it.  "  This  led  to  a  long  conversation  upon 
the  character  and  works  of  the  great  Father ;  on 
the  relations  which  his  creatures  sustain  to  him  as 
their  preserver  and  constant  benefactor,  and  the 
duties  which  all  owe  to  him  as  such,  with  which  the 
chief  seemed  pleased.  When  the  ten  command- 
ments were  recited,  he  approved  of  all  save  the 
seventh  ;  he  saw  many  objections  to  tying  a  man 
to  one  woman. "t 

"  This,"  says  Banvard,  "  is  a  specimen  of  the 
manner  in  which  the  Pilgrims  endeavored  to  com- 
municate religious  truths  to  the  minds  of  their  igno- 
rant Indian  neighbors.  When  among  them,  they  ob- 
served religious  exercises  at  their  meals  ;  continued 
the  practice  of  morning  and  evening  services ;  strictly 
regarded  the  Sabbath ;  and  thus  provoked  inquiries. 
Then,  when  o^jportunity  was  given,  they  imparted, 
in  a  homely,  familiar  way,  the  elementary  truths  of 
the  Bible."t 

After  passing  a  pleasant  night  in  Corbitant's 
wigwam,  the  Pilgrims  resumed  their  journey,  and 
after  twentj^-four  hours'  walk  reached  Plymouth. 

They  immediately  imparted  what  they  knew  of 

«  Banvard,  pp,  101,  102.  f  I^id.  I  Banvixid,  p.  102. 


EXPLOIT  OF  MILES  STANDISH.       183 

the  Indian  plot  to  the  governor.  Bradford  sum- 
moned the  settlers  to  deliberate.  Upon  examina- 
tion other  evidence  was  found  Avhich  corroborated 
Massasoit's  disclosure ;  and  even  in  the  midst  of 
this  consideration,  one  of  Weston's  pioneers  came 
in,  like  Bunyan's  Pilgrim,  "with  a  pack  on  his 
back  ;"  and  "though  he  knew  not  a  foot  of  the  way, 
yet  he  got  safe  to  Plymouth  by  losing  his  way,"  as 
he  was  pursued  by  the  Indians,  and  would  have 
been  caught  had  he  travelled  by  the  accustomed 
track.* 

"  He  told  us,"  says  Bradford,  "how  affairs  stood 
atWessagusset;  how  miserable  all  were ;  and  that  he 
dare  not  tarry  there  longer,  as,  by  what  he  had  ob- 
served, he  apprehended  those  settlers  would  shortly 
be  all  knocked  in  the  head."t 

Startled  by  the  imminence  of  the  peril,  Bradford 
at  once  despatched  Standish  with  a  small  squad  of 
men  to  warn  and  succor  the  menaced  colonists. 
On  reaching  Wessagusset  Standish  boarded  the 
"Swan,"  which  lay  moored  in  the  harbor.  Not  a 
soul  was  on  her.  Surprised,  the  Pilgrim  captain  fired 
his  musket.  Several  colonists  then  ran  down  to  the 
shore.  "  How  dare  you  leave  your  ship  unguarded, 
and  live  in  so  much  security?"  asked  he.  "  Why," 
was  the  reply  of  the  colonists,  who  were  insensible 
of  their  peril,  "  we  have  no  fear  of  the  Indians,  but 
live  with  them,  and  suffer  them  to  lodge  with  us, 
without  ever  having  a  gun  or  sword,  or  ever  need- 
ing one." 

*  "Winslow's  Good  News.  t  Bradford,  p.  131. 


186  THE   PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

"Well,  well,"  cried  StanJisli,  "if  you  have  no  oc- 
casion for  yigilance,  so  much  the  better."  He  then 
went  ashore.  Pitifvil  was  the  situation  of  the  pio- 
neers ;  four  words  paint  the  picture ;  filth,  hunger, 
disease,  nakedness.  "  After  they  began  to  come 
into  want,"  remarks  the  old  Pilgrim  chronicler, 
"  many  sold  their  clothes  and  bed-coverings ;  oth- 
ers— so  base  were  they — became  servants  to  the 
Indians,  and  would  cut  wood  and  fetch  water  for 
them,  for  a  cup  of  corn ;  some  fell  to  stealing,  and 
when  they  found  the  hiding-places  where  the  natives 
stored  their  corn,  they  despoiled  them,  and  this 
night  and  day,  while  the  savages  complained  griev- 
ously. Now  they  were  come  to  such  misery  that 
some  starved  and  some  died  of  cold.  One,  in  gath- 
ering shell-fish,  was  so  weak  from  hunger  that  he 
stuck  fast  in  the  mud,  and  not  being  able  to  pull  clear, 
he  was  drowned  by  the  incoming  tide.  Most  had 
left  their  cabins  and  were  scattered  up  and  down 
through  the  woods  and  by  the  water-side,  here  six 
and  there  ten,  grubbing  for  nuts  and  clams.  By 
this  carriage  they  were  contemned  and  scorned  by 
the  Indians  as  '  paleface  squaws,'  and  they  insulted 
over  them  right  insolently;  insomuch  that  many 
times,  as  they  lay  thus  scattered  abroad,  and  had 
set  a  pot  over  a  fire  and  filled  it  Avith  ground-nuts 
or  shell-fish,  when  it  was  ready  the  natives  would 
come  and,  pushing  them  aside,  eat  it  up;  and  at 
night  the  Indians,  to  revenge  their  thefts,  stole  their 
blankets  and  left  them  to  He  all  night  in  the  cold. 
Yea,  in  the  end,  they  were  fain  to  hang  one  of  their 


EXPLOIT   OF  MILES  STANDISH.        187 

own  men,  whom  they  could  not  reclaim  from  steal- 
ing, at  the  dictation  of  the  savages."* 

Standish  at  once  assembled  the  leading  colo- 
nists, and  opened  to  them  his  budget  of  news.  The 
proposed  massacre,  the  actors,  all  was  laid  bare. 
As  frightened  now  as  they  were  blinded  before,  all 
besought  him  to  save  them,  and  placed  themselves 
in  his  hands.  All  stragglers  were  called  in  and  sup- 
plied from  his  stores,  a  pint  of  corn  a  day  for  each 
man. '  This  done,  Standish  began  to  dissemble;  he 
wished  to  lure  the  chiefs  of  the  conspiracy  into  his 
clutches,  and  so  fight  guile  with  guile.f 

Though  suspecting  that  their  plot  had  been  dis- 
covered, the  Indians  so  greatly  despised  the  colo- 
nists that  they  came  daily  into  Wessagusset,  utter- 
ing gibes  and  menaces  loud  and  deep.  They  even 
ventured  to  taunt  Standish.  One  of  the  braves, 
Pecksuot,  a  bold  fellow,  but  a  braggadocio,  "  went 
to  Habbamak,  who  was  with  Standish  as  his  inter- 
preter, and  told  him  that  he  had  been  informed  that 
the  cap-tain  had  come  to  '  kill  him  and  his  friends.' 
'  Tell  him,'  he  said, '  we  know  it,  but  we  neither  fear 
him  nor  will  we  shun  him  ;  let  him  attack  us  when 
he  pleases,  he  will  not  surprise  us.'  ":j: 

At  other  times  the  Indians  would  enter  the  plan- 
tation, and,  in  the  presence  of  the  captain,  sharpen 
their  knives,  feel  their  points,  and  jeer.  One  of  their 
chiefs,  Witawamat,  often  boasted  of  the  fine  quali- 
ties of  his  knife,  on  the  handle  of  which  was  cut  a 

*  Bradford,  pp.  130,  131. 

f  Wiuslow's  Good  News.  J  Banvard. 


18S  THE  PILGEIM  FATHERS. 

woman's  face ;  "  but,"  said  he,  "  I  have  another  at 
home  with  which  I  have  killed  both  French  and  Ena- 
lish,  and  that  hath  a  man's  face  on  it ;  by-and-by  these 
two  must  marry."^=-  Not  long  after,  he  said  again, 
holding  up  his  knife,  "  By-and-by  this  shall  see  and 
eat,  but  not  speak,"  in  allusion  to  the  muskets  of 
the  English,  which  always  reported  their  doings. f 

Pecksuot  was  an  Indian  of  immense  muscular 
size  and  strength;  Standish  was  a  small  man. 
Once  the  brave  said  to  the  captain :  "  You  are  a 
great  officer,  but  a  little  man;  and  I  am  not  a 
sachem,  3-et  I  possess  great  strength  and  courage."| 

Standish  quietly  pocketed  these  insults,  and 
awaited  his  chance.  It  soon  came.  Pecksuot, 
Wetawamat,  and  two  others,  chiefs  of  the  con- 
spiracy, were  finally  all  entrapped  in  one  cabin. 
Standish  with  three  comrades  and  Habbamak  were 
also  present.  The  door  was  secured  and  a  terrific 
death-grapple  at  once  ensued.  There  were  no 
shrieks,  no  cries,  no  war-whoops.  Nothing  was 
heard  save  the  fierce  panting  of  the  combatants 
and  the  dull  thud  of  the  blows  given  and  returned. 
Habbamak  stood  quietly  by,  and  meddled  not. 
Soon  the  Englishmen  were  successful;  each  slew 
his  opponent,  and  Standish  himself  closing  with 
Pecksuot,  snatched  from  the  braggadocio's  neck 
his  vaunted  knife,  and  plunged  it  into  his  foeman's 
heart.  One  blow  did  not  kill  him;  frenzied  and 
glaring,  he  leaped  on  Standish  and  tugged  wildly 
at  his  throat.  The  struggle  was  brief  but  awful, 
*  Banvard,  p.  116.  f  Iljid-  I  Ibid. 


EXPLOIT   OF  MILES  STANDISH.       189 

and  Standisli  called  his  whole  skill  into  requisition 
to  complete  his  victoiy.  At  length  the  death-blow 
was  dealt : 

"See,  his  face  is  black  and  full  of  blood  ; 
His  eye-balls  farther  out  than  M'hen  he  lived ; 
Staring  full  ghastly,  like  a  strangled  man  ; 
His  hair  uijreared,  his  nostrils  stretched  with  struggling  ; 
His  hands  abroad  displayed,  as  one  that  grasped 
And  tugged  for  life,  and  was  by  strength  subdued."* 

After  the  tragedy  was  over,  Habbamak  said  to 
Standish,  while  a  smile  played  over  his  swarthy 
features:  "Yesterday,  Pecksuot,  bragging  of  his 
strength  and  stature,  said  you  were  a  great  captain, 
but  a  little  man  ;  but  to-day  I  see  that  you  are  big 
enough  to  lay  him  on  the  ground. "i" 

Standish  did  not  pause  for  congratulation,  nor 
did  he  care  much  for  it;  knowing  the  value  of 
promptitude,  he  at  once  headed  a  foray  on  the 
neighboring  Indian  villages.  Several  skirmishes 
ensued ;  the  savages,  beaten  and  terrified,  retreated 
from  morass  to  morass.  The  conspiracy  was  buried 
with  its  originators  ;  and  many  of  the  sachems  who 
had  joined  the  league,  Conacum,  Aspinet,  lyanough, 
died  from  diseases  contracted  in  their  headlong 
flight.l 

This  was  considered  the  "capital  exploit"  of 
Miles  Standish.  It  struck  such  wholesome  terror 
into  the  hearts  of  the  surrounding  tribes,  that,  in 
connection  with  the  uniform  justice  and  kindliness  of 
the  Pilgrims,  it  secured  peace  for  half  a  century.§ 

*  Shakspeare.  f  Winslow,  cited  in  Banvard,  p.  120. 

%  Winslow,  Elliot,  Palfrey.  §  Ibid. 


190  THE  PILGEIM  FATHERS. 

The  Westonians,  discouraged  and  disgusted, 
resolved  to  break  their  ranks  and  give  up  their  set- 
tlement. Standish  "offered  to  escort  them  to  Plym- 
outh, and  give  them  entertainment  till  Weston  or 
some  supply  should  come,"  says  Bradford;  "or  if 
they  liked  any  other  course  better,  he  promised  to 
help  them  all  he  could.  They  thanked  him,  but 
most  of  them  desired  him  to  grant  them  some  corn, 
then  they  Avould  go  with  their  ship  to  the  eastward, 
where,  haply,  they  might  hear  of  "Weston,  or  of 
some  supply  from  him.  That  failing,  since  it  was 
the  time  of  year  for  ships  to  frequent  the  fishing 
waters,  they  could  work  among  the  fishermen  till 
they  could  get  passage  into  England.  So  they 
shipped  what  they  had  of  any  value,  and  the  cap- 
tain gave  them  all  the  corn  he  could — scarcely  leav- 
ing himself  sufficient  to  take  him  home — and  saw 
the  colonists  well  out  of  the  bay;  then  he  himself 
sailed  back  to  Plymouth  in  triumph."* 

There  the  head  of  Wetawamat  was  impaled,  and 
set  up  prominently  in  the  fort ;  and  an  Indian  who 
had  been  sent  in  pursuit  of  that  pioneer  who  had 
first  brought  word  to  the  Pilgrims  of  the  condition 
of  his  fellow-settlers,  and  had  been  himself  cap- 
tured, recognized  it.  The  Pilgrim  Fathers  were  not 
revengeful;  they  did  not  love  to  shed  blood;  so 
when  Habbamak  vouched  for  the  friendship  of  this 
captive,  he  was  liberated,  and  sent  home  to  tell  his 
tribe  that  the  colonists  loved  peace,  but  that  they 
could  fight  in  case  of  need.    Ere  long  the  offending 

*  Winslow,  Bradford,  Thatcher. 


EXPLOIT  OF  MILES  STANDISH.        191 

red  men  sent  peace-offerings  into  Plymouth,  and 
sued  for  and  obtained  amity.* 

Bradford,  Winslow,  and  the  rest,  kept  their 
friends  in  England  and  Holland  as  fully  informed 
as  possible  of  the  daily  history  of  the  colony;  and 
of  course  so  memorable  an  event  as  this  consj)iracy 
and  its  suppression,  received  a  profuse  recital. 
When  Robinson  heard  of  the  rencontre,  he  wrote 
back  these  words,  finely  illustrative  of  his  charac- 
ter :  "  Oh,  how  happy  a  thing  had  it  been,  that  you 
had  converted  some  before  you  killed  any."t 

As  for  Weston's  colony,  this  was  the  last  of  it. 
Some  of  the  better  of  the  pioneers  went  to  Plym- 
outh ;  others  finally  found  their  way  back  to  Eng- 
land. They  had  landed  under  far  better  aus- 
pices than  the  Pilgrims.  They  were  welcomed  by 
fellow-countrymen,  and  sheltered  throughout  the 
winter.  They  commenced  their  settlement  in  the 
summer,  when  nature  laughed,  and  the  hillsides 
were  gay  with  flowers,  and  the  air  sweet  with  the 
songs  of  birds.  They  possessed  a  ship.  They  had 
had  been  left  competently  provided  in  the  wilder- 
ness. Yet  they  were  no  sooner  settled  than  they 
were  iinsettled.  Bankrupt  and  starving,  they  sought 
safet}^  in  flight.  This  was  the  fate  of  a  colony 
whose  "  main  end  was  to  fish,"  which  was  founded 
on  no  higher  law  than  the  greed  of  gain.- 

"  '  Certainly  the  best  works,  and  of  greatest  merit 
for  the  public,'  observed  the  childless  Lord  Bacon, 

^  Winslow,  Braclford,  Thatcher. 
■|   Morton,  Yonnf^'s  Chronicles. 


192  THE   PILGRIM  FATHEES. 

with  complacent  self-love,  '  have  proceeded  from 
the  unmarried  or  childless  men.'  Weston's  com- 
pany, after  having  boasted  of  their  strength  as  far 
superior  to  Plymouth,  which  was  enfeebled,  the}'- 
said,  by  the  presence  of  women  and  children,  yet 
owed  their  deliverance  to  the  colony  that  had  many 
women,  children,  and  weak  ones,  with  them."* 

Thus  it  should  seem  that  weakness  is  sometimes 
strength.  Ethics  are  better  buoys  than  numbers. 
Devout  weakness  is  always  stronger  than  self-com- 
placent and  impious  strength.  Justice  and  a  help- 
ful hand — these  are  the  palladiums. 

"Too  happy  were  men,  if  they  understood 
There  is  no  safety  but  in  doing  good."t 

*  Bancroft,  Hist.  United  States,  vol.  1,  p.  319. 
t  Fountain's  Rewards  of  Virtue. 


A  CHECKERED  EECORD.  193 


CHAPTEK   XVI. 

A   CHECKERED   EECOED. 

"Naught  shall  prevail  against  us,  or  disturb 
Oiir  cheerful  faith,  that  all  which  we  behold 
Is  full  of  blessings. " 

WOKDSWOBTH. 

A  FEW  weeks  after  the  final  abandonment  of 
Wessagusset  by  Weston's  colonists,  a  fishing-smack 
dropped  anchor  off  Plymouth.  A  boat  was  Ioav- 
ered,  and  in  a  trice  an  Englishman,  in  the  guise  of 
a  blacksmith,  was  landed.  He  seemed  anxious  to 
learn  the  condition  and  prospects  of  Weston's  set- 
tlement, and  was  evidently  ignorant  of  its  untoward 
fate.  On  being  informed  of  the  conspiracy,  massa- 
cre, and  abandonment  of  the  project,  he  seemed  to 
be  profoundly  agitated.  This  stranger  was  Weston 
himself,  once  a  prosperous  London  merchant,  now 
alone  in  the  wilderness,  a  ruined  man.  "A  strange 
alteration  there  was  in  him  to  those  who  had  kuown 
him  in  his  former  flourishing  condition,"  moralizes 
the  old  Plymouth  governor;  "so  uncertain  are  the 
mutable  things  of  this  unstable  world.  And  yet 
men  set  their  hearts  upon  them,  though  they  daily 
see  the  vanity  thereof."* 

Weston  was  anxious  to  know  the  worst.     He 

«  Bradford,  p.  133, 

nU'i  im  Fathers.  Q 


194  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEES. 

also  hoped  that  something  might  yet  be  saved. 
He  sailed  in  a  shallop  for  the  seat  of  his  downfallen 
venture.  But  misfortune  dogged  him.  He  was 
shipwrecked,  and  cast  ashore  with  nothing  but  the 
clothes  upon  his  person.  Soon  after,  being  discov- 
ered by  the  Indians,  he  was  strijDped  even  of  these, 
and  left  to  find  his  way  nude  to  the  coast  of  Maine. 
This  he  did ;  and  borrowing  a  suit  of  clothes  from 
the  fishermen,  he  returned  to  Plymouth  in  a  pitia- 
ble plight,  and  begged  the  loan  of  some  beaver-skins 
as  a  stock  in  trade  to  commence  life  anew.- 

The  Pilgrims  were  themselves  in  a  sad  strait, 
"  but  they  pitied  his  case,  and  remembered  former 
courtesies.  They  told  him  he  saw  their  want,  and 
that  they  knew  not  when  they  should  have  a  sup- 
ply ;  also  how  the  case  stood  betwixt  the  Merchant- 
adventurers  and  themselves,  which  he  well  knew. 
They  said  they  had  not  much  beaver,  and  if  they 
should  let  him  have  it,  it  might  create  a  mutiny, 
since  the  colony  had  no  other  means  of  procuring 
food  and  clothes,  both  which  they  sadly  needed. 
Yet  they  told  him  they  would  help  him,  considering 
his  necessity,  but  must  do,  it  secretly ;  so  they  let 
him  have  one  hundred  beaver-skins.  Thus  they 
helped  him  when  all  the  world  failed  him,  and  he 
was  enabled  to  go  again  to  the  ships,  buy  provis- 
ions, and  equip  himself.  But  he  requited  his  ben- 
efactors ill,  for  he  proved  afterwards  a  bitter  enemy 
on  all  occasions,  and  repaid  his  debt  in  nothing  but 
reproaches  and  evil  words.     Yea,  he  divulged  it  to 

~"  "Winslow  ill  Ymins;.     Banvard. 


A  CHECKERED  RECORD.  195 

some  that  were  none  of  their  best  friends,  -while  he 
yet  had  the  beaver  in  his  boat,  and  boasted  that  he 
could  now  set  them  all  by  the  ears,  because  they 
had  done  more  than  they  could  answer  in  letting 
him  have  the  skins.  But  his  malice  could  not  pre- 
vail."* 

Strangled  by  this  episode,  Weston  was  now  dead 
to  the  Pilgrims,  and  he  disappears  from  the  after- 
history  of  Plymoutli.t 

Through  all  these  months,  hunger  continued  to 
gnaw  the  vitals  of  the  Pilgrim  colony.  To  secure  a 
l^lentiful  future,  they  decided  to  plant  a  large  grain- 
crop  this  spriug.  But  the  labor  of  the  settlers  was 
hampered  by  an  abnormal  social  arrangement. 
Plymouth  fretted  under  an  agreement  which  rob- 
bed work  of  its  spur  and  its  crown.  Up  to  the 
month  of  April,  1623,  a  community  of  interest  was 
strictly  maintained.  This  did  not  arise  from  any 
peculiar  fantastic  notions  among  the  colonists,  but 
was  required  by  a  clause — reluctantly  assented  to — 
of  their  engagement  with  the  Merchant-adventurers 
in  England.:}:  The  contract  tied  the  Pilgrims  to  the 
communal  plan  for  a  specified  season.§  Land  was 
not  to  be  owned  by  individuals ;  it  was  common ; 
each  man  cultivated  what  he  pleased,  and  threw 
the  product  of  his  labor  into  the  general  store. 

*  Bradford,  pp.  133,  134. 

t  In  the  latter  part  of  1623,  Weston. went  to  Virginia ;  thence 
he  returned  to  England,  where  he  disappears  from  history.  Pal- 
frey, vol.  1,  p.  207. 

X  Judge  Davis,  note  on  Morton's  Memorial. 

§  Winslow  in  Young,  p.  34G.     Palfrey,  Thatcher,  etc. 


I 

196  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEES. 

From  the  stock  thus  gained  overseers  supplied  the 
settlers  in  equal  quantities.* 

Infinite  were  the  vexations,  multitudinous  were 
kthe  trials,  which  resulted.  Now  a  general  meeting 
was  called,  and  this  question  was  anxiously  dis- 
cussed. Finally  it  was  decided,  though  only  for 
reasons  of  the  sternest  necessity,  to  deviate  some- 
what from  the  form  of  the  contract. 

As  the  communal  idea  has,  in  our  day,  won  wide 
favor  with  theorists  and  ideal  dreamers,  we  subjoin 
and  commend  the  weighty  words  of  Bradford,  who 
had  experienced  the  evils  of  that  vicious  system,  to 
the  Fourierite  philosophers : 

"At  length,  after  much  debate,  the  governor, 
with  the  advice  of  the  chiefest  among  the  Pilgrims, 
gave  way  that  each  man  should  set  corn  for  his 
individual  benefit,  and  in  that  respect  trust  to  him- 
self; though,  remembering  the  contract,  all  other 
things  were  to  go  on  in  the  communal  way  till  time 
freed  them.  So  to  every  family  a  parcel  of  land 
was  assigned,  but  only  for  present  use,  no  division 
for  inheritance  being  made,  and  all  boys  and  youth 
were  ranged  under  some  family.  This  had  good 
success,  for  it  made  all  hands  very  industrious ;  so 
that  much  more  corn  was  planted  than  otherwise 
would  have  been  by  any  means  the  governor  could 
have  brought  to  bear.  He  was  saved  a  deal  of 
trouble,  and  the  division  gave  great  content.  Even 
the  women  went  into  the  field,  taking  with  them 
their  little  ones,  wdio  before  would  allege  weakness 
*  Winslow  in  Young,  p.  3i6.     Palfrey,  Thatcher,  Banvai-d,  etc. 


A  CHECKERED  RECORD.  197 

and  inabilit}^,  and  whom  to  liave  compelled  would 
have  been  thought  grievously  tyrannical,      ^ 

"  The  experience  which  was  had  in  this  common 
interest  and  condition,  tried  sundry  years,  and  that 
among  godly  and  sober  men,  may  well  evince  the 
vanity  of  that  conceit  of  Plato  and  of  other  an- 
cients, applauded  by  some  of  later  times;  that  the 
abolition  of  individual  property,  and  the  introduc- 
tion of  a  community  of  wealth,  would  make  men 
happy  and  flourishing.  This  community,  so  far  as 
it  went  at  Plymouth,  was  found  to  breed  much  con- 
fusion and  discontent,  and  to  retard  labor.  The 
young  men,  that  were  most  able  and  fit  for  service, 
did  repine  that  they  should  spend  their  time  and 
strength  in  working  for  the  families  of  others, 
without  other  recompense  than  a  bare  subsistence. 
The  strong  man  and  the  man  of  parts  had  no  greater 
share  than  he  that  was  weak,  and  not  able  to  do  a 
quarter  the  other  could.  This  was  thought  injus- 
tice. The  aged  and  graver  sort — ranked  and  equal- 
ized with  the  meaner  and  younger  men  in  the  divis- 
ion of  labor  and  provisions — esteemed  it  some  indig- 
nity and  disrespect  unto  their  gray  heads.  And  for 
men's  wives  to  be  bidden  to  do  service  for  others, 
as  dressing  meat  and  washing  clothes,  they  deemed 
it  a  kind  of  slavery  which  many  husbands  could  not 
well  brook.  So  if  this  arrangement  did  not  cut  off 
those  relations  which  God  hath  set  amongst  men, 
yet  it  did  at  least  much  diminish  and  take  off  the 
mutual  respect  that  should  be  preserved  amongst 
them,  and    destroyed   individuality.      And   things 


198  THE  PILGEIM  FATHERS. 

would  have  been  worse,  liad  the  Pilgrims  been 
more  qf  a  different  condition.  Let  none  object  that 
this  is  man's  corruption,  and  nothing  to  the  philos- 
ophy per  se.  Yes ;  but  since  all  men  have  this  cor- 
ruption in  them,  God  in  his  wisdom  saw  another 
course  fitter  for  them."* 

When  the  Pilgrims  had  finished  planting,  they 
knew  that  many  weary  weeks  must  elapse  ere  they 
could  reap  what  they  had  sown.  Meantime  "  all 
their  victuals  were  spent,  and  they  rested  on  God's 
providence  alone,  many  times  not  knowing  at  night 
where  to  get  a  bit  of  any  thing  the  next  day ;  so 
that,  as  has  been  well  said,  they,  above  all  people 
in  the  world,  had  occasion  to  pray  God  to  give 
them  their  daily  bread."t 

As  the  colonists  had  "  but  one  boat  left,  and  she 
not  over-well  fitted,  they  were  divided  into  gangs  of 
six  or  seven  each,  and  so  went  out  with  a  net  they 
had  bought,  to  take  bass  and  such  like  fish  by 
course,  each  company  knowing  its  turn.  No  sooner 
was  the  boat  discharged  of  what  she  had  brought 
than  the  next  gang  took  her.  Nor  did  they  return 
till  they  had  caught  something,  though  it  were  five 
or  six  days  before ;  for  they  knew  there  was  noth- 
ing at  home,  and  to  return  empty-handed  would  be 
a  great  discouragement  to  the  rest.  Yea,  they 
strove  which  should  do  best.  If  the  boat  was  gone 
over-long  or  got  little,  then  all  went  to  the  shore  to 
seek  shell-fish,  which  at  low  water  they  dug  from 
the  sand.     They  also  got  now  and  then  a  deer,  one 

*  Bradford,  pp.  135,  136.  f  Ibid.,  p.  136. 


A  CHECKERED  RECORD.  199 

or  two  of  the  fittest  being  appointed  to  range  tlie 
woods ;  and  the  meat  thus  gotten  was  fairly  divided. 
All  these  wants  were  borne  with  great  patience  and 
alacrity  of  spirit.""-  God  was  thanked  for  what  he 
gave,  and  for  the  rest  all  hoped. 

The  unusually  large  corn-crop  just  planted  led 
the  Pilgrims  to  believe  that  the  approaching  har- 
vest would  definitively  stojD  the  hungry  mouth  of 
their  necessities ;  but,  alas,  this  expectation  seemed 
about  to  be  blasted.  A  severe  drought  met  them 
in  the  ojoening  months  of  the  summer.  From  the 
middle  of  May  to  the  middle  of  July  there  was  no 
rain.  All  nature  seemed  to  pant  with  thirst.  The 
streams  dwindled,  and  ceased  to  laugh.  The  sum- 
mer foliage  seemed  in  the  "  sear  and  yellow  leaf" 
of  autumn.  The  flowers  held  out  their  parched  and 
shrivelled  tongues.  The  sprouting  corn  began  to 
wither  in  the  blade.  Famine  seemed  inevitable. 
In  this  emergency,  the  devout  Pilgrims  resorted  to 
the  "  mercy-seat,"  and  besought  Him  who  had  so 
often  appeared  to  succor  them  to  aid  them  now. 
A  special  da'y  of  fasting  and  prayer  was  appointed ; 
and  we  may  still 

' '  hear  the  Pilgrims'  peaceful  praj'er 
Swelling  along  the  silent  air, 
Amid  the  forest  wld." 

It  has  been  well  said,  that  answers  to  prayer 
do  not  generally  come  with  ohservation.  They  are 
often  sent  in  a  way  which  is  hid  from  most  persons, 
and  frequently  even  from  those  who  receive  them. 

*  Bradford,  p.  136. 


200  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

There  are,  however,  instances  in  which  these  an- 
swers are  so  striking  as  to  be  visible  to  alb  Some 
instances  of  this  kind  may  be  found  in  the  early 
history  of  New  England.* 

On  this  occasion  the  day,  which  was  kept  with 
marked  earnestness  and  solemnity,  opened  with  a 
cloudless  sky,  while  the  sun  poured  its  clear,  scorch- 
ing rays  full  upon  the  shrinking  plains ;  but  lo,  says 
Wiuslow  in  his  recital,  ere  the  close  of  the  services, 
"the  sky  was  overcast,  the  clouds  gathered  on  all 
sides,  and  on  the  next  morning  distilled  such  soft, 
sweet,  and  moderate  showers  of  rain,  continuing 
some  fourteen  days,  and  mixed  with  such  seasona- 
ble weather,  as  it  was  hard  to  say  whether  our  with- 
ered corn  or  our  drooping  affections  were  most 
quickened  and  revived,  such  was  the  bounty  and 
goodness  of  our  God."t 

Habbamak,  who  was  in  Plymouth  at  this  time, 
exclaimed  as  the  rain  began  to  fall,  "  Now  I  see 
that  the  Englishman's  God  is  a  good  God,  for  he 
has  heard  you,  and  sent  you  rain,  and  that  without 
storms  and  tempests,  which  we  usually  have  with 
our  rain,  and  which  beat  down  our  corn ;  but  yours 
stands  whole  and  erect  still ;  surely  your  God  is  a 
good  God."t 

But  while  these  timely  and  gentle  showers  saved 
their  crop  and  secured  the  future,  the  pinching  want 
of  the  passing  days  was  not  stayed.  Indeed,  so  bit- 
ter grew  the  famine,  that  on  one  occasion  the  colony 

*  White's  Incidents,  p.  41.  f  Winslow  in  Young. 

X  White's  Incidents,  p.  42. 


A  CHECKEEED  KECORD.  201 

was  reduced  to  a  single  pint  of  corn ;  which,  when 
divided  among  the  Pilgrims,  gave  each  five  ker- 
nels.* 

During  the  height  of  this  suffering,  a  package  of 
home-letters  was  received.  From  these  the  settlers 
gleaned  some  news  which  was  of  interest  to  them. 
It  seems  that  Mr.  John  Pierce,  in  whose  name  their 
patent  had  been  taken,t  had  grown  covetous,  and 
attempted  to  play  both  the  Pilgrims  and  the  Mer- 
chant-adventurers false.  "When  he  saw  "  how  hope- 
fnlly  the  Plymouth  colony  was  seated,"  the  trustee 
grew  desirous  of  becoming  lord-proprietary,  and 
holding  them  as  his  tenants,  "  to  sue  in  his  courts 
as  lord.":}:  So  he  surreptitiously  sued  out  a  new 
patent,  of  much  larger  extent,  in  his  own  name, 
and  then  fitted  out  an  expedition  headed  by  him- 
self, to  go  and  take  possession  of  his  usurped 
domain. §  But  "  God  marvellously  crossed  him." 
"  Having  sailed  no  farther  than  the  Downs,"  says 
Cotton  Mather,  "  his  ship  sprang  aleak ;  and  be- 
sides this  disaster,  which  alone  was  enough  to  have 
stopped  the  voyage,  one  strand  of  the  cable  was 
accidentally  cut,  by  which  means  it  broke  in  a  stress 
of  wind,  and  all  were  in  extreme  danger  of  being 
wrecked  upon  the  sands.  Having  with  much  cost 
recruited  this  loss,  and  increased  the  number  of 
emigrants.  Pierce  again  put  to  sea;  but  in  mid- 

*  Banvard,  Thatcher,  Morton's  Memorial. 

t  Chap.  10,  p.  137. 

I  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  p.  320.     Bradford,  p.  138. 

§  Morton's  Memorial,  pp.  95-97.     Palfrey,  vol.  1,  pp.  210,  211, 

9* 


202  THE  PILGRIM  FATHEES. 

ocean  one  of  the  saddest  and  longest  storms  known 
since  tlie  days  of  the  apostle  Paul  drove  the  ship 
home  to  England  once  more,  the  vessel  well-nigh 
torn  to  pieces,  and  the  emigrants,  though  all  saved, 
weary  and  affrighted.  Pierce,  by  all  his  tumbling 
backw^ard  and  forward,  was  by  this  time  grown  so 
sick  of  his  patent  that  he  vomited  it  up.  He  as- 
signed it  over  to  the  home  company;*  but  they 
afterwards  obtained  another,  under  the  umbrage 
whereof  they  could  more  effectually  carry  on  the 
affairs  of  their  colony."t 

The  letter  from  the  Merchant-adventurers,  which 
recited  these  facts,  closed  with  a  cheering  promise : 
"  We  have  agreed  with  two  merchants  for  a  ship  of 
a  hundred  and  forty  tons,  called  the  'Anne,'  which  is 
to  be  ready  the  last  of  this  month  of  April,  to  bring 
sixty  passengers  and  sixty  tons  of  goods  to  you.":!: 

While  the  Pilgrims,  enlivened  by  this  news, 
were  living  on  hope  and  five  kernels  of  corn,  they 
received  a  visitor.  Captain  Francis  West,  admiral 
of  New  England,  who  sailed  under  a  commission  to 
prevent  all  trading  and  fishing  on  the  coast-Hne 
without  a  license  from  the  Home  Council,  called  at 
Plymouth.  Of  him  the  necessitous  Pilgrims  pur- 
chased a  few  edibles  at  high  prices.§  The  old 
sailor's  mission  failed ;  the  fishermen  were  too 
strong  and  independent  to  be  repressed.    Ere  long, 

*  Pierce  sold  liis  patent  for  five  hundred  pounds  ;  he  gave  fifty 
for  it."     Banvard,  p.  133.     See  Palfrey,  ut  antea,  on  this  point, 
t  Cotton  Mather's  Magnalia,  vol.  1,  p.  60. 
J  Cited  in  exteuso  in  Bradford,  pp.  139,  140. 
§  Bradford,  p.  141.     Wiu.slow  in  Young. 


A  CHECKERED   EECOED  203 

on  their  petition,  Parliament  decreed  that  lishing 
shonki  be  free.'"'  v 

Two  weeks  after  the  departure  of  West,  the 
promised  reinforcements  arrived;  the  "Anne"  land- 
ed her  recruits,  and  a  goodly  store  of  provisions 
besides.t 

So  low  was  the  colonial  larder,  that  "  the  best 
dish  they  could  present  their  friends  wdth  was  a 
lobster  or  a  piece  of  fish,  without  bread,  or  any 
thing  else  but  a  cup  of  fair  spring  water.":!; 

The  "  Anne"  was  shortly  followed  by  the  "  Little 
James,"  a  vessel  of  forty-four  tons  burden,  "built 
to  stay  in  the  country."§ 

"Among  the  pioneers  just  arrived,"  says  Cotton 
Mather,  "  were  divers  worthy  and  useful  men,  who 
were  come  to  seek  the  welfare  of  this  little  Israel ; 
though  at  their  coming  they  were  as  differently 
affected  as  the  rebuilders  of  the  temple  at  Jerusa- 
lem ;  some  were  grieved  Avhen  they  saw  how  bad 
the  condition  of  their  friends  was,  and  others  were 
glad  that  it  was  no  worse."|| 

Among  the  arrivals  at  this  time  "  were,  Cutli- 
bertson,  a  member  of  the  Leyden  church,  the  wives 
of  Fuller  and  Coake,  and  two  daughters  of  Brew- 
ster. There  were  at  least  twelve  ladies.  One  of 
these  became  the  wife  of  Bradford ;  Standish  mar- 
ried another.     Alice  Southworth,  Bradford's  second 

*  Bauvard,  p.  134. 

■f  Morton's  Memorial,  Thatcher,  Palfrey. 

X  Bradford,  p.  146.  §  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  pp.  211,  212. 

II  Mather's  Magnalia.  vol.  1.  p.  60. 


204  THE  PILGKIM  FATHEES. 

wife,  is  said  to  have  been  liis  first  love.  Both  being 
widowed,  a  correspondence  took  place,  in  the  sequel 
of  which  she  came  out  from  England,  and  married 
her  some-time  lover  at  Plymouth."^' 

"  Some  of  your  old  friends  go  to  you  with  these 
lines,"  wrote  Cushman;  "they  come  dropping  to 
you,  and  by  degrees  I  hope  ere  long  you  shall  en- 
joy them  all."t 

Now  also  this  commercial  partnership  beheld 
a  vision  of  the  immortal  renown  to  which  its  hum- 
ble agents  were  destined.  "  Let  it  not  be  grievous 
to  you,"  wrote  the  prescient  scribe  of  the  Home 
Company,  "that  you  have  been  instruments  to  break 
the  ice  for  others  who  came  after  you  with  less  dif- 
ficulty ;  the  honor  shall  be  yours  to  the  world's  end. 
Wetjear  you  always  in  our  hearts,  and  our  cordial 
affection  is  toward  you  all,  as  are  the  hearts  of  hun- 
dreds more  who  never  saw  your  faces,  but  who  pray 
for  your  safety  as  for  their  own,  that  the  same  God 
who  hath  so  marvellously  preserved  you  from  seas, 
foes,  famine,  will  still  preserve  you  from  all  future 
dangers,  and  make  you  honorable  among  men  and 
glorious  in  bliss  at  the  last  day.":}: 

*  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  212,  note. 

t  Bradford,  p.  145.  t  Ibid.,  pp.  145,  146. 


WOLVES  IN  THE  SHEEPFOLD.    205 


CHAPTEE  XVII. 

WOLVES  IN   THE   SHEEPFOLD. 

"I,  under  fair  pretence  of  friendly  ends, 
With  well-placed  words  of  glozing  courtesy, 
Baited  wdth  reason  not  unplausible, 
Wind  me  into  the  easy-hearted  man, 
And  hug  hjm  into  snares." 

Milton's  C'omus. 

The  Plymouth  colonists  were  men  of  active  en- 
terprise.  They  were  miserly  of  time,  and  hoarded 
their  hours.  They  were  also  anxious  to  please  the 
Merchant-adventurers.  So  now,  as  quickly  as  might 
be,  the  "Anne"  was  laden  with  clapboards,  beaver 
skins,  and  divers  fars ;  letters  whose  every  line  was 
a  loving  pulsation,  were  indited  to  the  lingering  ab- 
sentees at  Leyden  and  to  home  circles  in  England ; 
and  on  the  10th  of  September,  1623,  the  vessel 
sailed,  carrying  with  her  Edward  Winslow,  who  was 
sent  over  to  report  progress,  and  to  procure  such 
necessities  as  were  demanded  by  the  imj^erious 
wants  of  the  expanding  colony.* 

After  watching  the  "Anne"  until  she  dipped 
below  the  horizon,  the  pilgrims  returned  from  the 
shore  and  prepared  to  go  into  the  harvest  field. 
This  season  "  God  gave  them  plenty,  and  the  face 
of  things  was  changed,  to  the  grateful  rejoicing  of 
all  hearts."  The  granaries  were  filled.  Some  of 
«  Prince,  Morton's  Memorial,  Bradford,  Thatcher's  Plymouth. 


206  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

the  abler  and  more  industrious  had  to  spare,  and 
the  perturbed  ghost  of  famine,  which  had  so  long 
haunted  Plymouth,  was  definitively  laid.* 

Many  attributed  this  plenteous  harvest  to  the 
j)artial  abandonment  of  the  communal  plan,  and  in 
consequence  the  desire  for  complete  emancipation 
from  its  thraldom  became  more  general  and  earn- 
est.f 

Some  of  the  late  comers  had  sailed  not  under 
articles  of  agreement  with  the  company  of  Mer- 
chant-adventurers, but  on  their  individual  account; 
so  they  landed  free  from  those  conditions  which 
shackled  the  elder  settlers.  Under  these  circum- 
stances it  was  thought  fit,  ere  these  outsiders  were 
received  and  permitted  to  settle  and  build  in  Plym- 
outh, to  exact  of  them  certain  specified  conditions 
precedent.  So  reasonable  a  requisition  woii  ready 
assent,  and  an  agreement  was  signed  to  this  effect : 
The  colony  on  its  part,  the  outsiders  on  theirs,  cove- 
nanted to  show  each  the  other  all  reasonable  cour- 
tesies ;  all  were  to  be  alike  subject  to  such  laws 
and  orders  as  were  already  made,  or  might  thereaf- 
ter be  made,  for  the  public  good ;  the  outsiders  were 
freed  and  exempted  from  the  general  employments 
which  the  communal  condition  required  of  its  par- 
ticipants, except  for  purposes  of  defence  and  such 
work  as  tended  to  the  lasting  welfare  of  the  colony ; 
they  were  taxed  for  the  maintenance  of  the  govern- 
ment, and  debarred  from  traffic  with  the  Indians 
for  their  individual  profit,  until  the  expiration  of 
*  Bradford,  p.  147.  f  Ibid. 


WOLVES  IN  THE  SHEEPFOLD.    207 

the  seven  years  which  tied  the  colonists  to  the  com- 
nmnaKty.* 

Towards  the  middle  of  September,  while  the  Pil- 
grims were  in  the  midst  of  their  harvest  labors,  Rob- 
ert Gorges,  a  sou  of  Sir  Ferdinand  Gorges,  famous 
as  a  voyageur  and  discoverer,  sailed  into  Plymouth 
bay.f  He  had  recently  returned  from  the  Venetian 
•wars,  and  now  came  armed  with  a  commission  from 
the  New  England  council  as  governor-general  of  the 
territory  from  Acadia  to  Narragansett  Bay.];  With 
him  were  families  of  emigrants  equipped  to  com- 
mence a  settlement,  and  a  learned  and  worthy  cler- 
gyman of  the  English  church,  William  Morrel,  an 
important  item  of  whose  mission  was  to  "  exercise 
superintendence  over  the  New  England  churches."§ 

Gorges  tarried  at  Plymouth  about  a  fortnight, 
receiving  friendly  and  cordial  entertainment.il  He 
,liad  been  advised  to  select  Admiral  West,  Christo- 
pher Levett,  and  the  existing  governor  of  Plymouth, 
as  his  advisers.  This  he  did  ;  and  in  this  body  was 
vested  the  full  authority  to  administer  justice  in  all 
cases,  "  capital,  criminal,  and  civil,"  throughout  the 
province  of  New  England.!  This  arranged.  Gorges 
sailed  for  Wessagusset,  the  site  of  Weston's  discom- 
fiture, and,  landing  his  colonists,  essayed  to  plant 
on  that  inauspicious  coast  a  permanent  settlement.^'"* . 

This   colony,  like    its   predecessor,  was    fated. 

»  Bradford,  p.  148. 

\  Felt,  Hist.  New  England,  Prince,  Bradford. 

X  Felt,  Bradford,  Morton's  Memorial,  etc. 

§  Felt,  vol.  1,  p.  77.  II  Bradford,  p.  149. 

IT  Ibid.     i\Iorton's  Memorial.  vQ  Ibid. 


208  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEES. 

Hardly  surviving  its  birth,  it  lingered  through  a 
twelvemonth,  and  then  dissolved.  Sir  Ferdinand 
Gorges  and  his  company,  discouraged  by  the  oppo- 
sition of  the  Parliament  to  their  New  England 
schemes,  would  adventure  nothing.*  In  the  spring 
of  1624  he  summoned  his  son  home;  and  a  little 
later  Morrel,  who  had  made  no  effort  to  exercise  his 
superintendency,  followed  him,  and  this  gave  the 
second  settlement  at  Wessagusset  its  coup  de  grdce.f 
Morrel  was  not  spoiled  by  his  disappointment. 
"  I  shall  always  be  desirous  for  the  advancement  of 
those  colonies,"  he  said.|  And  in  a  Latin  poem 
addressed  to  the  New  England  Council,  he  Avrote : 

"  If  these  poor  lines  may  wiu  that  country  love, 
Or  kind  compassion  in  the  English  move, 
Or  painful  men  to  a  good  land  invite, 
Whose  holy  works  the  natives  may  enlight, — 
If  Heaven  grant  this,  to  see  there  built  I  trust, 
An  English  kingdom  from  the  Indian  diist.  "§ 

But  while  "  unmerciful  disaster  followed  thick 
and  followed  faster"  this  enterprise  of  Gorges  and 
several  kindred  ones,||  smiting  them  into  early  graves, 
Plymouth,  clasping  hands  Avitli  God,  strengthened 
daily,  and  walked  forAvard  to  assured  success.  Early 
in  1624,  the  annual  election  occurred.  Governor 
Bradford,  anxious  to  retire,  pleaded  hard  for  "  rota- 
tion in  office,"  and  alleged  that  that  Avas  the  "  end 

*  Felt.  t  Ibid.     Bradford,  Morton's  Memorial. 

X  Felt,  vol.  1,  p.  78.  §  Cited  in  Felt,  ut  antea. 

II  "There  were  also  this  year  some  scattering  beginnings  made 
in  other  places,  as  at  Piscataway,  by  Mr.  David  ThomjDSon,  who 
was  sent  over  by  Mason  and  Gorges,  at  Monhegin,  and  some  other 
places  by  sundry  others."     Bradford,  p.  154. 


WOLVES  IN  THE  SHEEPFOLD.    209 

of  annual  elections,"  But  the  Pilgrims  riglitly  re- 
garded him  as  a  pivotal-man,  and  with  rare  good 
sense  tliey  reelected  liim  unanimously.*  "When  the 
election  was  over  the  "Little  James"  was  well  vict- 
ualed and  despatched  to  the  eastward  on  a  fishing 
expedition.  On  reaching  Damarin's  cove  "  there 
arose  such  a  violent  and  extraordinary  storm  that 
the  seas  broke  over  such  places  in  the  harbor  as 
were  deemed  absolutely  secure,  and  drove  the  vessel 
against  great  rocks,  which  beat  a  hole  in  her  hulk 
that  a  horse  and  cart  might  have  gone  through,  and 
afterwards  drove  her  into  deep  water,  where  she 
sank.  The  master  was  drowned ;  the  rest  of  the 
men,  except  one,  saved  their  lives  with  much  ado ; 
and  all  the  provisions,  salt,  tackle,  and  what  else 
was  in  her,  was  lost."t  Saddened  by  this  mishap, 
but  undismayed,  the  Pilgrims  now  commenced  their 
preparations  for  planting,  "  A  great  part  of  liber- 
ty," says  Seneca,  "  is  a  well-governed  bell}',  and  to 
be  patient  in  all  wants.":!;  -^^^  Corbett,  borrowing 
the  same  idea,  put  it  into  homely  English  by  affirm- 
ing that  "  the  stomach  is  the  cause  of  civilization." 
He  meant  that  hunger  begets  labor  to  satisfy  its 
cravings.  "  Wants  awaken  intellect.  To  gratify 
them  disciplines  the  mind.  The  keener  the  want, 
the  lustier  the  growth. "§ 

The  famine  of  the  past  had  revealed  to  the  Pil- 
grims the  weakness  and  inefficiency  of  the  com- 

»  Prince,  Bradford,  Pilgrims'  Journal. 

t  Bradford,  pp.  156,  157.  t  Seneca's  Epis.  123.  ' 

§  Phillips'  Letters  and  Speeches,  p.  372. 


210  THE  PILGRIM   FATHEES. 

munal  plan.  It  educated  them;  for  on  an  indi- 
vidual basis  they  reaped  plenty.  They  overcame 
hunger  by  patience.  They  flanked  famine  by  a 
skilful  social  arrangement.  Now,  as  before,  each 
man  broke  ground  for  himself.*  There  was  no 
honger  an  Elysium  for  sluggards;  each  reaped  as 
he  had  sown. 

In  March,  1624,  Winslow  returned  to  Plymouth, 
after  an  absence  of  eight  months.t  He  brought 
with  him  three  heifers  and  a  bull — the  first  neat 
cattle  that  came  into  New  Ed  gland.:}:  The  ex- 
iles could  no  longer  say,  "We  are  without  cattle, 
and  we  have  no  Egypt  to  go  to  for  corn."§  Cattle 
they  now  had,  and  they  created  an  Egypt. 

Winslow  also  brought  some  "  clothing  and  other 
necessaries  ;  a  carpenter,  who  died  soon,  but  not 
until  he  had  rendered  himself  very  useful;"  a"  salt- 
man,"  who  proved  "  an  ignorant,  foohsh,  self-willed 
fellow,"  and  only  made  trouble  and  waste ;  and  "  a 
preacher,  though  none  of  the  most  eminent  and 
rare"  —  to  whose  transportation  Cushman  wrote 
that  he  and  Winslow  had  consented  only  "  to  give 
content  to  some  in  London."||  Winslow  informed 
his  coadjutors  of  a  sad  "report  that  there  was 
among  the  Merchant-adventurers  a  strong  faction 
hostile  to  Plymouth,  and  especially  set  against  the 
comin^of  the  rest  from  Leyden"! — which  explains 

«  Prince,  Bradford.  t  Morton's  Memorial. 

X  Thatcher's  Plymouth,  p.  111. 

§  Morton's  Memorial,  p.  103.  ||  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  215. 

IT  Bradford,  pp.  159,  160,  167. 


WOLVES  IN  THE  SHEEPFOLD.    211 

the  long  tarrj  of  Eobinson  and  his  flock  in  Hol- 
land. 

"  It  will  be  remembered,"  remarks  Palfrey,  "  that 
tlie  London  adventurers  were  engaged  in  a  commer- 
cial speculation.  Several  of  them  sympathized  more 
or  less  in  religious  sentiment  with  the  Pilgrims ;  but 
even  with  most  of  these  considerations  of  pecuniary 
interest  were  paramount,  and  they  were,  besides,  a 
minority  when  opposed  to  the  aggregate  of  those 
adventurers  who  had  no  mind  to  interest  themselves 
in  religious  dissensions  to  the  damage  of  their  pros- 
pect of  gain.  Under  such  circumstances,  the  policy 
of  the  English  partners  would  naturally  be  to  keep 
in  favor  with  the  court  and  with  the  council  for  New 
England,  of  which  Sir  Ferdinand  Gorges  and  other 
churchmen  were  leaders.  This  it  was  that  occa- 
sioned the  thwarting  embarrassments  which  were 
persistently  interposed  to  frustrate  Robinson's  wish 
to  collect  his  scattered  flock  in  America.  Neither 
the  Yirginia  Company,  nor  the  Merchant-adventui-- 
ers  as  a  body,  would  have  preferred  to  employ  Sep- 
aratists in  founding  American  colonies,  and  giving 
value  to  their  land.  But  the  option  was  not  theirs. 
At  the  moment,  no  others  were  disposed  to  con- 
front the  anticipated  hardships,  and  none  could  be 
relied  upon  like  these  to  carry  the  business  through. 
This  was  well  understood  on  both  sides  to  be  the 
motive  for  the  engagement  that  was  made. 

"  If  Separatists  were  per  force  to  undertake  the 
enterprise,  it  was  desirable  that  they  should  be  per- 
sons not  individually  conspicuous,  or  obnoxious  to 


21'2  THE  PILGRIM  FATHEES. 

displeasure  in  high  quarters ;  and  when  Brewster, 
and  not  Kobiuson,  accompanied  the  first  settlers  to 
New  England,  it  was  a  result,  if  not  due  to  the  in- 
trigues of  the  Adventurers,  certainly  well  according 
with  their  policy.  Brewster  was  forgotten  in  Eng- 
land ;  nor  had  he  ever  been  known  as  a  literary 
champion  of  his  sect.  The  able  and  learned  Rob- 
inson was  the  recognized  head  of  the  Independents, 
a  rising  and  militant  power.  He  had  an  English, 
if  indeed  it  may  not  be  called  a  European  reputa- 
tion. No  name  could  have  been  uttered  in  courtly 
circles  with  worse  omen  to  the  new  settlement.  The 
case  was  still  stronger  when,  having  lost  their  way, 
and  in  consequence  come  to  need  another  patent,  the 
colony  was  made  a  dependency  of  the  Council  for 
New  England,  instead  of  the  Yirginia  Company. 
In  the  Yirginia  Company,  laboring  under  the  dis- 
pleasure of  the  king,  and  having  Sandys  and  Wri- 
othesley  for  its  leaders,  there  was  a  leaven  of  pop- 
ular sentiment.  The  element  of  absolutism  and 
prelacy  was  more  controlling  in  the  councils  of  the 
rival  corporation. 

"From  these  circumstances  the  quick  instinct 
of  trade  took  its  lesson.  To  the  favor  of  the  Coun- 
cil for  New  England,  with  Sir  Ferdinand  Gorges  at 
its  head,  and  the  king  taking  its  part  against  Sir 
Edward  Coke  and  the  House  of  Commons,  the 
Merchant-adventurers  were  looking  for  benefits 
which  some  of  them  had  no  mind  to  hazard  by  en- 
couraging their  colony  to  exhale  any  offensive  odor 
of  schism.     This  gives  us  an  insight  into  the  policy 


WOLVES  IN  THE  SHEEPFOLD.    213 

of  that  action  to  which  Kobinson  referred  when,  in 
a  letter  to  Brewster,  now  brought  by  Winfelow,  he 
wrote :  '  I  persuade  mj' self  that  for  me,  they  of  all 
others  are  unwilling  I  should  be  transported,  espe- 
cially such  of  them  as  have  an  eye  that  way  them- 
selves, as  thinking  if  I  come  there  their  market  will 
be  marred.  And  for  these  Adventurers,  if  they  have 
but  half  the  wit  to  their  malice,  they  will  stop  my 
course  when  they  see  it  intended,' 

"  In  these  circumstances,  also,  we  find  an  expla- 
nation of  the  selection  of  a  minister  'not  the  most 
eminent  and  rare,'  and  such  as  Cushman  and  Wins- 
low  could  agree  to  take  only  '  to  give  content  to 
some  in  London.'  To  send  a  clergyman  avowedly 
of  the  state  church  was  a  course  not  to  be  thouijht 
of.  The  colonists  could  not  be  expected  to  receive 
him.  The  best  method  for  their  purpose  was,  to 
employ  some  one  of  a  character  and  position  suited 
to  get  possession  of  their  confidence,  and  then  use 
it  to  tone  down  their  religious  strictness,  and,  if  cir- 
cumstances should  favor,  to  disturb  the  ecclesias- 
tical constitution  which  they  had  set  up. 

"  As  the  financial  prospects  of  the  colony  faded, 
the  more  anxious  were  the  unsympathizing  London 
partners  to  relieve  it  and  themselves  from  the  stig- 
ma of  religious  schism.  The  taunt  that  their  colo- 
nists were  Brownists  depressed  the  value  of  their 
stock.  It  was  for  their  interest  to  introduce  settlers 
of  a  different  religious  character,  and  to  take  the 
local  power,  if  possible,  out  of  the  hands  of  those 
who  represented  the  obnoxious  tenets.      To  this 


214  THE  PILGEIM  FATHERS. 

end  it  was  their  policy  to  encourage  such  internal 
disaffection  as  already  existed,  and  to  strengthen  ifc 
by  the  infusion  of  neAV  elements  of  discord.  A  part 
even  of  the  'Mayflower'  emigrants,  without  reli- 
gious sympathy  with  their  superiors,  and  jealous  of 
the  needful  exercise  of  authority,  were  fit  subjects 
for  an  influence  adverse  to  the  existing  organization. 
The  miscellaneous  importation  in  the  'Fortune' 
followed ;  and  the  whole  tenor  of  the  discourse  of 
Cushman,  who  came  out  and  returned  in  her,  shows 
that  there  were  '  idle  drones '  and  '  unreasonable 
men'  mixed  with  the  nobler  associates  of  the  infant 
settlement.  The  'Anne'  and  her  partner,  the  last 
vessels  despatched  by  the  Adventurers,  brought 
new  fuel  for  dissension  in  those  of  that  company 
who  came  '  on  their  particular '  account.  Nor  does 
it  seem  hazardous  to  infer,  alike  from  the  circum- 
stances of  the  case  and  from  developments  which 
speedily  followed,  that  some  of  these  persons,  in 
concert  with  the  '  strong  faction  among  the  Adven- 
turers,' came  over  on  the  errand  of  subverting  the 
existing  government  and  order."* 

The  clergyman  now  sent  over,  and  mentioned 
in  the  home-letters,  was  John  Lyford.  He  was  the 
seed  of  many  and  sad  disturbances.  "  When  he 
first  came  ashore,"  says  Bradford,  "he  saluted  the 
colonists  with  such  reverence  and  humility  as  is 
seldom  seen,  and  indeed  made  them  ashamed,  he 
so  bowed  and  cringed  unto  them ;  he  would  have 
kissed  their  hands,  if  they  had  suffered  it.  Yet  all 
a  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  pp.  216-219. 


WOLVES  IN  THE  SHEEPFOLD.        215 

the  while,  if  we  may  judge  by  his  after-carriage,  he 
was  but  hke  him  mentioned  by  the  psalmist,*  that 
croucheth  and  boweth  that  heaps  of  poor  may  fall 
by  his  might.  Or  like  that  dissembling  Ishmaelf 
who,  when  he  had  slain  Gedehah,  went  out  weep- 
ing,  and  met  them  that  were  coming  to  offer  in- 
cense in  the  house  of  the  Lord,  saying,  '  Come  to 
Gedeliah,'  when  he  meant  to  slay  them. "J 

The  Pilgrims  received  Lyford  cordially,  giving 
him  the  warmest  of  welcomes  and  the  heartiest. 
A  larger  allowance  out  of  the  general  store  was 
allotted  him  than  any  other  had  ;  and  as  the  gov- 
ernor was  wont,  "in  all  weighty  affairs,  to  consult 
with  Elder  Brewster  as  well  as  with  his  special 
assistants,  so  now,  from  coiu'tesy,  he  called  Lyford 
also  to  advise  in  all  important  crises."§ 

Ere  long  he  professed  to  desire  to  unite  with 
the  Pilgrim  church.  He  was  accordingly  received, 
and  "  made  a  large  confession  of  his  faith,  and  an 
acknowledgment  of  his  former  disorderly  walking 
and  entanglement  with  many  corruptions,  which 
had  been  a  burden  to  his  conscience ;  so  that  he 
blessed  God  for  this  opportunity  of  liberty  to 
enjoy  the  ordinances  of  God  in  jjurity  among  His 
people."|| 

For  a  time  all  things  went  comfortably  and 
smoothly ;  but  in  this  calm,  Lyford  contracted  an 
intimacy  with  one  John  Oldham,  who  had  come  out 
in  the  "Anne"  on  his  own  account,  and  had  been  a 

*  Psalm  10  :  10.  f  Jeremiah  41 : 6. 

J  Bradford,  p.  171.  §  Ibid.  ||  Ibid.,  p.  172. 


213  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEES. 

factious  bawier  from  the  outset/^  From  so  con- 
genial an  association,  evil  could  not  but  be  begot- 
ten. The  bully  and  the  hypocrite  soon  nursed  it 
and  set  it  afoot.  Both  Oldham  and  Lyford  grew 
very  perverse  —  though  just  before  Oldham  also 
had  been  received  as  a  member  of  the  Plymouth 
church,  "  whether  from  hypocrisy  or  out  of  some 
sudden  pang  of  conviction  God  only  knows" — and 
"  showed  a  spirit  of  great  malignancy,  drawing  as 
many  into  faction  as  they  could  influence.  The 
most  idle  and  profane  they  nourished,  and  backed 
in  all  their  lawlessness,  so  they  would  but  cleave 
to  them  and  revile  the  Pilgrim  church.  Private 
meetings  and  back-stair  whisperings  were  incessant 
among  them,  they  feeding  themselves  and  others 
with  what  they  should  bring  to  pass  in  England  by 
the  faction  of  their  friends  among  the  Adventurers, 
which  brought  both  themselves  and  their  dupes 
into  a  fools'  paradise.  Outwardly  they  set  a  fair 
face  on  things,  yet  they  could  not  carry  things  so 
closely  but  much  both  of  their  sayings  and  doings 
was  discovered."'!" 

Finally,  when  the  vessel  in  which  Winslow  had 
returned  was  laden,  and  ready  to  hoist  anchor 
and  spread  sail  for  home,  it  was  observed  that  Ly- 
ford and  his  coadjutors  "  were  long  in  writing  and 
sent  many  letters,  and  communicated  to  each  other 
such  things  as  made  them  laugh  in  their  sleeves, 
thinking  they  had  done  their  errand  efficiently."! 

*  Bradford,  p.  172.     Morton's  Memorial,  p.  112.        f  Ibid. 
X  Bradford,  p.  173. 


WOLVES  IN  THE  SHEEPFOLD.    217 

Scenting  miscliief,  Bradford  watched  tliem  close- 
ly ;  and  wlien  the  ship  left  the  harbor,  he  followed 
her  in  the  shallop,  and  demanded  Lyford's  letter- 
bag.  The  captain,  v/ho  was  friendly  to  the  colonial 
government,  and  cognizant  of  the  plot  afoot,  both 
in  Britain  and  at  Plj'mouth,  to  overreach  the  Pil- 
grims, at  once  acceded.  Above  twenty  letters,  many 
of  them  long,  and  pregnant  with  slanders,  false  ac- 
cusations, and  malicious  inuendoes,  tending  not  only 
to  the  prejudice,  but  the  ruin  and  utter  subversion 
of  the  settlement,  were  found.  Most  of  these  Brad- 
ford let  pass,  contenting  himself  with  abstracts. 
But  of  the  most  material  true  copies  were  taken, 
and  then  forwarded,  the  originals  being  detained, 
lest  their  writer  should  deny  his  work,  in  which  case 
he  would  now  be  compelled  to  eat  his  own  penman- 
ship.* 

The  ship  had  sailed  towards  evening ;  in  the 
night  the  governor  returned.  Lyford  and  his  fac- 
tion "  looked  blank  when  they  saw  Bradford  land ; 
but  after  some  weeks,  as  nothing  came  of  it,  they 
were  as  brisk  as  ever,  thinking  that  all  was  un- 
known and  was  gone  current,  and  that  the  shallop 
went  but  to  despatch  some  well-nigh  forgotten  or 
belated  letters.  The  reason  why  Bradford  and  the 
rest  concealed  their  knowledge  was,  to  let  affairs 
drift  to  a  natural  development,  and  ripen,  that  they 
might  tire  better  discover  the  intentions  of  the  mal- 
contents, and  see  who  were  their  adherents.  And 
they  did  this  the  rather,  because  they  had  learned 
«  Bradford,  p.  173. 

10    ■ 


218  THE   PILGKIM  FATHERS. 

from  a  letter  written  by  one  of  tlie  confederates, 
that  Oldham  and  Lyford  intended  an  immediate 
reformation  of  the  church  and  commonwealth,  and 
proposed  at  once,  on  the  departure  of  the  ship,  to 
unite  their  forces,  and  set  up  a  worship  on  the  Eng- 
lish model."* 

The  Pilgrims  had  not  long  to  wait.  Oldham, 
with  the  natural  instinct  of  a  bullj,  picked  constant 
quarrels,  refused  to  mount  guard,  and  pelted  Stan- 
dish  with  vile  epithets.  Lyford,  a  more  cautious 
knave,  had  no  heart  for  fisticuffs,  but  he  set  up  an- 
other worship  on  the  Sabbath,  and  openly  celebra- 
ted sacramentst  which  were  to  the  Pilgrims  instinct 
with  vicious  tyranny  and  idolatrous  significance; 
and  to  escape  from  which,  they  had  crossed  the 
channel  into  Holland,  and  plunged  across  the  At- 
lantic into  the  winter  wilderness. 

The  colonists  at  once  acted.  Oldham  was  tamed. 
"  After  being  clapped  up  awhile,  he  came  to  him- 
self." Lyford  was  formally  impeached,  A  court 
was  convened,  and  the  settlers  at  large  were  sum- 
moned to  attend.  Bradford  himself  conducted  the 
prosecution  in  this  primitive  trial.  He  said  that, 
"  being  greatly  oppressed  in  Britain,  the  Pilgrims 
had  come  to  America,  here  to  enjoy  liberty  of  con- 
science; and  for  that  they  had  passed  through 
frightful  hardships,  and  planted  this  settlement  on 
the  sterile  rocks.  The  danger  and  the  charge  ol 
the  beginning  were  theirs.  Lyford  had  been  sent 
over  at  the  general  expense,  and  both  himself  and 

'-S  Bra.lfoi.l.  p.  175.  t  Ibid. 


WOLVES  IN  THE  SHEEPFOLD.   219 

his  large  family-  had  been  maintained  from  the 
common  store.  He  had  joined  their  church,  and 
become  one  of  themselves;  and  for  him  to  plot  the 
ruin  of  his  entertainers  was  most  unjust  and  perfid- 
ious. As  for  Oldham  and  his  crew,  who  came  at 
their  own  charge  and  for  their  particular  benefit, 
seeing  they  were  received  in  courtesy  by  the  plan- 
tation, when  they  came  only  to  seek  shelter  and 
protection  under  its  wings,  not  being  able  to  stand 
alone,  they  were  like  the  fable  of  the  hedgehog 
whom  the  cony,  in  a  stormy  day,  from  pity  wel- 
comed into  her  burrow;  but  who,  not  content  to 
take  part  with  her,  in  the  end,  with  her  sharp 
pricks  forced  the  poor  cony  to  forsake  her  own 
burrow,  as  these  do  now  attempt  to  do  with  us."t 

Here  Lyford  denied  that  he  had  been  guilty  of 
any  wrong.  Bradford  at  once  "put  in"  his  inter- 
cepted letters  as  evidence.  The  unmasked  hypo- 
crite was  dumb.  But  Oldham,  mad  with  rage,  at- 
tempted to  rouse  an  emeufe  on  the  spot.j:  No  hand 
was  uplifted  at  his  appeal,  and  Bradford  caused 
the  whole  parcel  of  letters  to  be  read ;  after  which, 
resuming  his  speech,  he  reminded  Lyford  of  his 
humble  confession  on  being  received  into  the  church, 
of  his  solemn  promise  not  to  attempt  to  perform 
the  functions  of  a  clergyman  until  he  had  another 
call  to  that  sacred  ofiice ;  in  open  violation  of  which, 
he  had  assumed  the  clerical  garb,  in  virtue  of  his 

«  He  had  a  wife  and  four  children.     Bradford,  p.  175,  editor's 
note. 

t  Ibid,  pp.  175,  176.  ±  Ibid. 


220  THE  PILGEIM  FATHERS. 

ordination,  drawn  aside  a  small  clique,  and  by 
attempting  to  officiate  at  the  Lord's  table  on  the 
Sabbath,  broken  his  solemn  pledge  and  disturbed 
the  public  peace.* 

*  The  proof  was  so  patent,  the  falsehoods  which 
imjireguated  the  insolent  letters  were  so  bold,  that 
the  factionists  were  absolutely  dumb.  No  voice 
was  raised  in  extenuation  of  the  roguery.  Convic- 
tion was  speedy.  Oldham  and  Lyford  were  both 
sentenced  to  banishment. t 

Oldham  at  once  left  Plymouth,  and  repaired  to 
Nantasket,  where  the  Pilgrims  had  a  station  to  ac- 
commodate the  Indian  trade.:];  But  Lyford,  as  weak 
as  he  was  vicious,  burst  into  tears,  and  "  confessed 
that  he  feared  he  was  a  reprobate,  with  sins  too 
heavy  for  God  to  pardon ;"  and  he  promised  amend- 
ment with  such  emphasis,  and  pleaded  so  piteously 
for  forgiveness,  that  the  kind  and  merciful  settlers 
consented  to  keep  him  on  probation  for  six  months.§ 

But  he  was  an  ingrained  knave,  and  amendment 
was  not  in  him.  Not  long  after  this  scene,  he  wrote 
a  second  letter  to  the  Merchant -adventurers,  in 
which  he  justified  all  his  former  charges,  and  elab- 
orated them.  Unhappily  for  him,  the  messenger  to 
whom  he  intrusted  this  precious  missive  surren- 
dered it  into  the  hands  of  Bradford,  who  simply 
.filed  it  for  the  present,  and  let  his  just  wrath  accu- 
imulate.ll 

■a  Bradford,  pp.  175,  176.  f  I^i*^^-'  P-  182. 

i  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  221,  note.     Morton's  Memorial,  p.  117, 
note.  ^  Ibid.  ||  Bradford. 


WOLVES  IN  THE  SHEEPFOLD.    221 

In  tlie  mean  time  the  sliip,  with  Lyford's  batch 
of  letters  aboard,  dropped  anchor  in  the  Thames. 
The  Hes  of  their  masquerading  agent  were  eagerly 
conned  by  the  London  partners.  A  conclave  was 
held.  The  inimical  adventurers  pointed  triumph- 
antly to  Lyford's  testimony.  But,  fortunately  for 
the  Pilgrims,  Winslow,  who  had  returned  to  Lon- 
don, had  become  acquainted  with  certain  disrep- 
utable and  damning  facts  in  Lyford's  home-ca- 
reer, both  in  England  and  in  Ireland,  where  he 
had  officiated  as  pastor,  which  proved  him  to  be  a 
lecher  and  a  swindler,  who  soiled  the  surplice  and 
the  cope.  With  these  facts,  and  followed  by  grave 
and  unimpeachable  witnesses,  Winslow  hurried  into 
the  room  where  the  merchants  were  assembled,  and 
made  his  exjwse,  which  "  struck  Lyford's  friends  with 
sudden  dumbness,  and  made  them  shame  greatly."* 

But  these  reports,  together  with  their  disap- 
pointment in  not  harvesting  an  immediate  fortune, 
impelled  two  thirds  of  the  original  members  of  the 
London  Company  to  withdraw  from  the  venture; 
"and  as  there  had  been  a  faction  and  siding  amongst 
them  for  two  years,  so  now  there  was  an  utter  breach 
and  sequestration."t 

Some  of  the  partners,  however,  remained  friend- 
ly; and  these,  assuming  the  debt  of  the  colony — 
amounting  to  some  fourteen  hundred  pounds  ster- 
ling— fitted  out  a  ship  for  another  voyage,  wrote  in 
terms  of  comfort  and  cheer,  and  sent  out  cattle, 

"  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  221. 

I  Winslow,  quoted  in  Palfrey,  \\i  antea. 


222  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

tools  and  clothing,  which  they  sold  to  the  planters, 
despite  their  friendly  professions,  at  an  exorbitant 
advance  on  the  market  value." 

In  the  spring  of  1625,  Winslow  came  back  with 
this  ship  thus  freighted ;  and  he  brought  with  him 
besides,  the  news  of  the  disaffection  among  the 
Merchant-adventurers.  On  landing,  he  was  the 
surprised  witness  of  a  strange  ceremony.  In  the 
village  street  was  drawn  up  a  guard  of  musketeers 
in  two  files,  between  which  a  man  was  running.  As 
he  passed,  each  soldier  gave  him  a  thump  behind 
with  the  but  of  his  musket. f  This  was  called  "run- 
ning the  gauntlet,"  and  was  a  custom  borrowed 
from  the  Indians.  So  engrossed  were  the  settlers 
in  this  odd  sport,  and  so  convulsed  were  the  sober- 
est of  them  with  laughter  at  the  victim's  odd  grim- 
aces on  being  struck  and  bidden  "  mend  his  man- 
ners," that  Winslow  advanced  quite  up  to  the  crowd 
ere  he  was  discovered  and  recognized.  He  then 
learned  that  the  sufferer  of  this  singular  pimish- 
ment  was  Oldham,  who,  despite  his  banishment, 
had  ventured  to  return  to  Plymouth  and  revile  his 

judges.t- 

Winslow  at  once  informed  the  clustering  colo- 
nists of  the  effect  of  Lyford's  letters  in  England, 
and  repeated  his  expose,  of  that  bad  man's  abhorrent 
private  cliaracter.§  The  Pilgrims  were  not  sur- 
prisisd.  Lj'ford's  own  wife,  "  a  grave  matron  of 
good  carriage,"  had  herself,  in  the  sorrow  of  her 

*  Thatcher,  Prince,  Palfrey,  Bradford.  f  Bradford,  p.  190. 

X  Ibid.,  p.  192.    Morton's  Memorial,  p.  120.  §  Ibid. 


WOLVES  IN  THE   SHEEPFOLD.         223 

heart,  disclosed  some  secrets  and  uncloaked  some 
crimes  -uhicli  led  them  to  believe  Lyford  capable 
of  perpetrating  any  villauy.* 

Now,  since  his  probationary  time  had  expired, 
and  he  was  a  more  dangerous  rascal  than  before, 
he  was  ordered  to  quit  the  colony.  This  he  did, 
joining  Oldham  at  Nantucket;  whence,  a  little  later, 
he  wandered  into  Virginia,  dying  there  very  miser- 
ably.f 

Eventually  Oldham  repented  of  his  evil  conduct, 
and  became  reconciled  to  the  Pilgrims ;  "  so  that 
he  had  liberty  to  come  and  go,  and  converse  with 
them  at  pleasure,"  until,  some  years  later,  the  In- 
dians, in  a  petty  quarrel,  knocked  his  brains  out 
with  a  tomahawk.:}: 

Thus  ended  the  "  Lyford  troubles."  Led  by 
God,  the  Plymouth  colonists  safely  surmounted  one 
more  obstacle,  the  insidious  assault  of  masquera- 
ders  who  "  stole  the  livery  of  heaven  to  serve  the 
devil  in." 

The  winter  of  1624-5  had  passed  without  any 
special  occurrence  save  this  Lyford  affair ;  and 
here  see  one  strange  thing :  "  Many  who  before 
stood  something  oft'  from  the  church,"  says  Brad- 
ford, "  now,  seeing  Lyford's  unrighteous  dealing 
and  malignity  against  it,  came  forward  and  ten- 
dered themselves  as  members,  professing  that  it 
was  not  out  of  any  dislike  of  any  thing  that  they 
had  stood  so  long  aloof,  but  from  a  desire  to  fit 

*  Bradford,  p.  192.     Morton's  Memorial,  p.  120.         f  Ibid. 
%  Chiever's  Journal,  p.  327.     Morton's  Memorial. 


224  THE  PILGRIM  FATHEES. 

themselves  better  for  sucli  a  connection,  and  that 
now  they  saw  that  the  Lord  called  for  their  lielj). 
So  that  Lyford's  crusade  had  quite  a  contrary  effect 
from  that  hoped ;  which  was  looked  at  as  a  great 
work  of  God,  who  drew  men  on  by  unlikely  means, 
and  by  occurrences  which  might  rather  have  set 
them  farther  off."'' 

Lyford  had  complained  to  the  Merchant-adven- 
turers that  the  Pilgrims  had  no  regularly  ordained 
minister.  To  this  charge  Bradford  made  a  fine 
retort :  "  We  answer,  the  more  is  our  wrong,  that 
our  pastor  is  kept  from  us  by  these  men's  means, 
who  then  reproach  ?<.s  for  it.  Yet  have  we  not  been 
wholly  destitute  of  the  means  of  salvation,  as  this 
man  would  have  the  world  believe;  for  our  rever- 
end elder,  Mr.  ^rewster,  hath  labored  diligently  in 
dispensing  the  word  of  God  unto  us ;  and,  be  it 
spoken  without  ostentation,  he  is  not  inferior  to 
Mr.  Lyford — and  some  of  his  betters — either  in  gifts 
or  learning,  though  he  would  never  be  persuaded 
to  take  higher  office  upon  himself."t 

Brewster  taught  twice  every  Sabbath  powerfully 
and  profitably,  and  Avithout  stipend,  which  he  stead- 
ily declined,  working  for  his  bread  with  his  own 
hands,  and  earning  it  in  the  sweat  of  his  brows, 
thus  approximating  to  the  early  Christian  practice. 
"  He  did  more  in  one  year,"  asserts  old  John  Cot- 
ton, "than  many  who  have  their  hundreds  per  an- 
num do  in  all  their  lives."  So  it  seems  that  there 
is  one  brilliant  exception  to  the   Indian   maxim, 

•  Bradford,  p.  189.  t  Hji^^-.  P-  188- 


WOLVES  IN  THE  SHEEPFOLD.    225 

"  Poor  pay  poor  preach."  Tlie  good  elder  bad  a 
singular  gift  iu  prayer,  "yet  was  seldom  word}^  or 
prolix."  Without  the  afflatus  of  ordination,  he  was 
so  much  better  than  most  ministers  with  it,  that, 
though  destitute  of  "  consecrated  ministrations," 
the  colonists  did  not  suffer  much,  and  mainly  re- 
gretted the  absence  of  sacraments,  which  Brewster, 
unordaiued,  was  not  competent  to  celebrate.* 

Prince  gives  a  summary  of  the  religious  tenets  of 
the  Plymouth  church : 

I.  "  It  held  that  nothing  is  to  be  accounted  true 
religion  but  what  is  taught  in  the  Holy  Scriptures." 

II.  "It  held  that  every  man  has  the  right  of 
private  judgment,  of  testing  his  belief  by  the  sacred 
writ,  and  of  worshipping  God  in  his  own  way  as 
that  text  directed."! 

On  this  doctrine  the  Pilgrims  thrived.  "  Brown 
bread  and  the  gospel  is  good  fare,"  they  said  to  one 
another.:]:  Indeed  it  was;  and  there  on  the  deso- 
late coast,  where  wheat  froze  and  the  bitter  winter 
congealed  six  months  of  the  twelve,  men  grew. 
"At  last,"  says  Elliott,  "in  the  beginning  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  we  see  a  church  Avith  no  priest, 
with  no  hierarchy,  with  no  forms ;  none  like  it  since 
that  at  Corinth ;  none  so  entirely  free  to  Avork  out  its 
ideas  into  life  and  action.  It  was  a  religious  democ- 
racy.    Its  doctrines  and  practices  were  the  outcome 

*  Elliot,  vol.  1,  pp.  119,  120. 

f  Ibid.,  p.  116.     Prince's  Chronology.     Thatcher's  Plymouth. 
J  A  Brief  Eeview  of  the  Else  and  Progress  of  New  England. 
London,  1774. 

10* 


226  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

of  the  time,  and  were  decided  on  by  tlie  votes  of  the 
members  as  men.  In  theory,  the  majority  ruled  in 
the  Plymouth  church.  'Tis  a  noticeable  thing  in 
human  history,  and  it  has  had  its  influence  in  both 
church  and  state.  The  day  had  come  when  a  few 
brave  men  could  take  this  step  in  advance  towards 
freedom,  and  not  be  swallowed  up  and  lost.  The 
day  had  come  when  democracy  was  j)ossible  in  the 
church,  foretelling  its  speedy  coming  in  the  state."* 

*  Elliot,  vol.  1,  p.  135. 


SAD  NEWS  FEOM  ENGLAND.    227 


CHAPTEE   XVIII. 

SAD   NEWS  FROM  ENGLAND. 

"Thou  know'st  'tis  common  ;  all  that  live  must  die. 
Passing  through  nature  to  eternity." 

Rhakspeake's  Ilamlet. 

The  Pilgrims  were  fretted  bj  tlie  unsatisfactory 
and  clogging  conditions  of  their  compact  with  the 
London  partners.  Their  j)rosperitj  was  perpetu- 
ally menaced  by  the  factions  and  the  chicanery  of 
a  herd  of  merchants  whose  only  god  was  mammon, 
and  who  cared  nothing  for  justice  and  sober  living 
and  their  plighted  word,  if  onl}^  they  might  make 
their  heaps  high  and  massy. 

Early  in  1625,  the  colonists  determined  to  ini- 
tiate measures  which  should  look  to  their  disen- 
thralment,  and  whose  result  should  be  to  give  them 
in  fee  simple  those  lands  which  their  patient  skill 
had  wrung  from  the  sturdy  hand  of  unwilling  and 
churlish  nature.  Standish  was  commissioned  to  go 
to  England,  and  open  negotiations  with  the  Mer- 
chant-adventurers.* 

Two  ships,  which  had  come  out  on  a  trading 
voyage,  were  now  about  to  sail  for  home.  In  the 
larger  of  these  the  redoubtable  captain  embarked. 
"  Being  both  well  laden,  they  went  joyfully  home 

*  Morton,  Prince,  Hazard,  Bradford,  Thatcher,  Bauvard. 


228  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

together,  tlie  greater  towing  the  lesser  at  her  stern 
all  the  way  over.  And  they  had  such  fair  weather, 
that  they  never  once  cast  off  till  both  were  shot 
deep  into  the  English  channel.  Yet  there  the  little 
vessel  was  uuliappil}-  seized  by  a  Turkish  rover,  and 
carried  into  Sallee,  where  master  and  crew  were 
made  slaves ;  and  her  cargo  of  beaver-skins  was 
sold  at  sixpence  a  piece.  Thus  were  their  hopes 
dashed,  and  the  joyful  news  they  meant  to  carry 
home  was  turned  to  heavy  tidings."* 

Fortunately  for  Standish,  the  Tui'k  was  satisfied 
with  the  morsel  he  had  already  gotten  into  his 
capacious  maw,  and  did  not  pursue  the  bigger  ship ; 
so  that  he  escaj)ed  a  life  of  Eastern  servitude,  and 
safely  reached  the  English  soil.  Wasting  no  time, 
he  hastened  to  meet  the  London  partners;  and  so 
skilful  Avas  his  diplomacy,  that  he  made  arrange- 
ments for  the  gradual  absorption  of  the  Plj'mouth 
debt  by  the  settlers,  "  taking  up  a  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds  of  it  on  the  spot,  though  at  fifty  per  cent, 
interest,  which  he  bestowed  in  trading  and  in  the 
purchase  of  such  commodities  as  he  knew  to  be 
requisite  for  colonial  use."t 

In  the  spring  of  1626,  he  returned  to  Plymouth,:!: 
bringing  with  him  the  mournful  intelligence  of  the 
death  of  Cushman  in  England  and  of  Kobinson  in 
Leyden,§  a  double  bereavement  to  the  Pilgrim  pio- 
neers. 

The  loss  of  no  other  two  men  could  have  dealt 

a  Bradford,  pp.  202,  203.  t  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  224. 

X  Hazard,  Bradford,  Palfi-ey,  §  Ibid. 


SAD  NEWS  FEOM  ENGLAND.    229 

so  stunning  a  blow  to  the  infant  settlement.  Plym- 
ontli  was  almost  buflfeted  from  its  feet.  The  loss 
seemed  irreparable  to  human  eyes;  but  God,  Avho 
uses  his  servants,  delights  to  show  the  Avorld  that 
they  are  not  indispensable  to  him.  Cushman  had 
been  "  as  their  right  hand  to  the  Pilgrims,  and  for 
divers  years  had  done  and  agitated  all  their  busi- 
ness with  the  Adventurers,  to  the  great  advantage 
of  his  friends."* 

But  Eobinson  was  mourned  with  a  peculiar  sor- 
row. Attached  to  their  great  teacher  by  the  ten- 
derest  personal  ties,  by  many  favors  rendered  and 
received,  by  marriage  vows  plighted  at  his  altar, 
by  mutual  perils  undergone  for  a  common  faith, 
by  expectation  of  his  arrival  and  reunion  on  the 
bleak  New  England  strand,  is  it  strange  that  Plym- 
outh at  large  wept  sore  for  him,  and  plucked  its 
beard  ? 

"  Kobinson's  powerful  ascendency  over  the  minds 
of  his  associates,  acquired  by  eminent  talents  and 
virtues,  had  been  used  disinterestedly  and  wisely 
for  the  common  good.  With  great  courage  and 
fortitude,  he  had  equal  gentleness  and  liberality ; 
and  his  intellectual  accomplishments  and  the  gen- 
erosity of  his  affections  inspired  mingled  love  and 
admiration.  Though  he  passed  his  life  in  the  midst 
of  controversy,  it  Avas  so  far  from  narrowing  his 
mind,  that  his  charity  towards  dissenters  distin- 
guished him  among  the  divines  of  his  day  as  much 
as  his  abilities  and  learning,  while  his  broad  and 

•-■•  Bradford,  p.  207. 


230  THE  PILGRIM  FATHEES.  i 

I 

tolerant  views  continued  to  ripen  and  expand  as  ' 

he    grew  towards    age,"*   and   bloomed   into   the  '< 

grave.  i 

In  especial  he  won  the  benediction  of  the  sev-  ; 

enth  beatitude  ;    for  he  was  famous  as  a  peace-  i 

maker,  and  there  are  many  instances  of  reconcilia-  j 

tion  between  those  at  variance  effected  by  his  fine  { 

Christian  tact.t 

"  He  fell  sick  Saturday  morning,  February  22, 
1625.  Next  day  he  taught  twice  ;  but  in  the  week, 
grew  feebler  every  day,  and  quit  this  life  on  the  1st 
of  March.  All  his  friends  came  freely  to  him  ;  and 
if  prayers,  tears,  or  means,  could  have  saved  his  life, 
he  had  not  gone  hence. ":j: 

He  died  in  his  fifty-first  year,  "  even  as  fruit  fall-  ; 

eth  before  it  is  ripe,  when  neither  length  of  days 

nor  infirmity  of  body  did  seem  to  call  for  his  end."§ 

The  discarded  flesh-tabernacle  was  laid  to  rest  in  i 

the  chancel  of  one  of   the  churches  at  Ley  den,  ||  j 

allotted  bv  the  Dutch  for  the  use  of  the  English  I 

I 
exiles ;  and  the  magistrates,  ministers,  professors, 

and  students,  followed  him  to  the  grave.lT  i 

Kobinson  was  the  Moses  of  the  Pilgrims,  and 
like  his  j)rototype,  he  looked  into  the  promised  land  ! 

from  the  top  of  Pisgah,  but  he  did  not  enter  it.     In- 
trigue balked  him  of  that  felicity,  and  "  hope  de- 

«  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  225.                           f  Banvard,  p.  151.  ' 

I  Elliot's  Biog.  Diet.  §  Young's  Chronicles,  p.  481. 

II  "  It  is  not  certain  where  he  lies  buried ;  George  Sumner  j 
thinks  in  St.  Peter's  church,  Leyden."  Elliot,  Hist.  New  Eng.,  ' 
vol.  1,  p.  125,  note.  \ 

■    T  Stoughton,  Heroes  of  Puritan  Times,  p.  102.  \ 


SAD  NEWS  FKOM  ENGLAND.  231 

ferred  made  his  heart  sick."  But  ideas  cannot  be 
barred  out.  His  entered  the  wilderness,  and  ger- 
minated democracy  and  the  representative  system. 
"His  truth,  planted  at  Plymouth,  has  blossomed 
on  the  rocky  shores,  in  the  sheltered  valleys,  and 
on  the  breezy  hills  of  New  England,  and  borne  a 
grand  harvest." 


232  THE  PILGEIM  FATHERS. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

PROGRESS. 

"And  when  our  children  turn  the  page 
To  ask  what  triumphs  marked  our  age — 
What  we  achieved  to  challenge  jiraise. 
Through  the  long  line  of  future  days — 
This  let  them  read,  and  hence  instruction  draw  : 
'  Here  were  the  many  blest, 
Here  found  the  virtues  rest, 
Faith  linked  with  Love,  and  Liberty  with  Law.'" 

Speague's  Centennial  Ode. 

The  progress  of  population  at  Plymouth  was 
slow  for  a  decade.  The  lands  in  the  Yicinitj  were 
not  fertile.  Still  the  plantation  had  struck  deej) 
root  and  was  bound  to  spring  up  and  bear  a  hun- 
dred fold.*  If  the  colonial  prosperity  was  not  im- 
posing, it  was  thriving.  A  httle  earlier  than  this 
Smith  learned  in  Virginia  that  there  were  on  this 
New  England  slope  "  about  a  hundred  and  eighty 
persons;  some  cattle  and  goats;  many  swine  and  a 
good  store  of  poultry ;  and  thirty-two  dwelling- 
houses;  forming  a  town  which  was  impaled  about 
half  a  mile's  compass,  with  a  fort  built  of  wood, 
loam,  and  stone ;  also  a  fair  watch-tower ;  and  able 
to  freight  a  ship  of  a  hundred  and  eighty  tons  bur- 
den."t 

Fifty  ships  were  on  the  coast  engaged  in  fishing, 
every  one  of  which  was  an  enlargement  of  their 

*  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  p.  321.        f  Smith's  General  History,  p.  247. 


PKOGEESS.  233 

market  for  the  sale  and  purchase  of  essential  com- 
modities.* 

"  It  pleased  the  Lord,"  says  Bradford,  "  to  give 
the  plantation  peace,  and  health,  and  contented 
minds,  and  so  bless  the  labors  of  the  colonists  that 
thej  had  provisions  in  plenty,  and  to  spare ;  and  this 
without  receiving  any  food  from  home  at  any  time, 
except  what  they  brought  out  in  the  Mayflower."t 

Owing  to  the  competition  in  the  fishing-waters, 
the  Pilgrims  esteemed  it  wiser  now  to  forego  that 
pursuit  and  to  tiu'n  their  whole  attention  to  "  trading 
and  planting."  "  To  every  person,"  says  Bradford, 
"  was  given  an  acre  of  land,  and  only  an  acre  to  them 
and  theirs,  as  near  the  town  as  might  be,  and  they  had 
no  more  till  the  contract  with  the  London  partners 
was  bought  up.  The  reason  was,  that  all  might  be 
kept  close  together  both  for  better  safety  and  defence, 
and  the  better  improvement  of  the  common  emplo}'- 
ments.  This  condition  of  theirs  did  make  me  think 
of  what  I  once  read  in  Pliny:]:  of  the  Romans  and 
their  beginnings  in  Pomulus'  time,  when  every  man 
contented  himself  with  two  acres  of  land  and  had 
no  more  assigned  him ;  how  it  was  thought  a  great 
reward  to  receive  a  pint  of  corn  at  the  hands  of  the 
Boman  people ;  how,  long  after,  the  greatest  pres- 
ent given  to  a  captain  who  had  gotten  them  a  vic- 
tory over  their  enemies,  was  as  much  ground  as  he 
could  till  in  one  day ;  he  being  counted  not  a  good 
but  a  dangerous  man,  who  could  not  content  him- 

*  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  pp.  221,  222.  f  Bradford,  p.  204. 

t  Pliny,  lib.  18,  chap.  2. 


234  THE   PILGEIM  FATHEES. 

self  with  seven  acres  of  land ;  as  also  how  they  did 
pound  their  corn  in  mortars,  as  these  colonists  did 
many  j^ears  before  they  could  get  a  mill."- 

In  turning  from  fishing  to  agriculture  the  set- 
tlers were  decided  gainers,  and  "ere  the  close  of  the 
year  1626  they  had  nearly  extricated  themselves 
from  debt,  including  the  obligation  lately  incurred 
for  them  by  Standish,  and  had  besides  stored  'some 
clothing  for  the  people  and  some  commodities  be- 
forehand.' "t 

The  winter  of  1626-7  was  given  to  trading,  and 
purchases  were  made  of  merchandise  from  some 
Englishmen  stationed  at  Monhegan,  and  from  a 
French  ship  wrecked  off  their  coast.  For  several 
months  they  had  the  society  of  the  passengers  and 
crew  of  a  vessel  bound  to  Virginia,  but  which,  losing 
her  reckoning,  and  falling  short  of  provisions,  had 
moored  under  Cape  Cod  and  sent  to  them  for  succor.:)^ 

Just  before  winter  closed  in  the  Pilgrims  had 
despatched  one  of  their  number,  Mr.  Allerton,  to 
England  with  authority  to  continue  the  negotiations 
for  a  transfer  of  title  opened  by  Standish  with  the 
Merchant-adventin'ers.§  Allerton  found  the  plague 
— which  had  somewhat  retarded  the  movements  of 
Standish,  and  carried  oft'  some  of  the  most  efficient 
supporters  of  the  colony]] — quite  abated.  He  also 
learned  that  James  I.,  the  pedantic  bigot  who  had 
threatened  to  "  harry"  the  Puritans  out  of  England, 

*  Bradford,  p.  168.  f  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  225. 

t  Ibid.  §  Bradford,  Morton's  Memorial. 

II  Felt,  ffist.  New  England,  vol.  1,  p.  91. 


PKOGEESS.  235 

was  dead,  and  that  he  had  been  succeeded  by  his 
son  Charles  I.,  the  fated  prince  who  afterwards  fell 
under  Cromwell's  axe  on  the  Whitehall  scaffold. 

The  Plymouth  agent  was  successful,  though  "the 
curse  of  usury,  which  always  falls  so  heavily  upon 
new  settlements,  did  not  spare"  the  Pilgrims,  since 
they  w^ere  compelled  to  borrow  money  at  an  exor- 
bitant interest.  Allerton  had  carried  out  nine  bonds, 
each  for  two  hundred  pounds — eighteen  hundred 
pounds  being  the  price  at  which  the  partnership 
held  their  mortgage.  These  bonds  were  given  by 
eight  of  the  most  prominent  Pilgrims,*  and  were 
made  payable  in  nine  equal  annual  instalments, 
commencing  in  1627.1'  Thus  it  was  that  a  bevy  of 
patriotic  colonists  purchased  the  rights  and  assumed 
the  responsibilities  of  the  "  Company  of  Merchant- 
adventurers."  They  were  known  in  the  phrase  of 
that  day  as  "  The  Undertakers,"  and  they  emanci- 
pated Plymouth  from  its  harassing  thraldom  to  a 
greedy  horde  of  money-changers. 

The  Pilgrims  were  much  gratified  by  this  success, 
though  they  knew  that  their  undertaking  was  not 
without  grave  hazard.  "  They,  knew  not  well,"  re- 
marks Bradford,  "  how  to  raise  this  yearly  payment, 
besides  discharging  their  other  engagements  and 
supplying  their  annual  w^ants,  especially  since  they 
were  forced  by  necessity  to  take  up  money  at  such 
high  interest.     Yet  they  undertook  it."| 

*  These  were  Bradford,  Brewster,  Standisb,  Allerton,  Fuller, 
Jeremy,  Alden,  Howlaud.     Prince,  Bradford,  Hazard,  etc. 
l"  Bradford,  pp.  212,  213.     Palfrey.  |  Ibid.,  p.  214. 


23o  THE  PILGKIM  FATHERS. 

Of  course,  this  purchase  of  the  right  of  the  home 
company  necessitated  a  new  organization,  and  a 
redistribution  of  property  at  Plymouth,  After  ma- 
ture deliberation,  it  was  decided  to  erect  a  common- 
wealth, in  which  each  settler  should  own  a  share, 
but  under  an  agreement  that  trade  should  be  man- 
aged as  before  until  the  total  discharge  of  the  debt 
incurred  for  liberty."" 

The  division  was  at  once  made  of  the  stock  and 
land  heretofore  the  joint  estate  of  the  adventurers 
and  their  partners  in  the  soil.  Every  man  had  a 
share ;  and  "  every  father  of  a  family  was  allowed  to 
purchase  one  share  for  his  Avife  and  one  for  each  child 
living  with  him."'!-  One  cow  and  two  goats  were 
assigned  by  lot  to  every  six  shareholders,  "  and 
swine,  though  more  in  number,  j^et  by  the  same 
rule."  In  addition  to  the  land  which  each  already 
held,  "  every  person  had  twenty  acres  allotted  him ; 
but  no  meadows  were  to  be  laid  out ;  nor  were  they 
for  many  years  after,  because  they  were  straitened 
for  meadoAv  land.  Every  season  each  was  given  a 
certain,  spot  to  mow  in  proportion  to  the  cattle 
owned."!  The  houses  became  the  private  proiDerty 
of  their  respective  tenants  by  an  equitable  assign- 
ment,§  and  henceforward  there  were  to  be  New 
England  freeholders.  The  vassalage  to  foreign  mer- 
chants was  ended. II 

It  should  not  be  forgotten  that  in  the  allotment 
of  land,  there  was  a  grant  to  the  Indian  Habbamak. 

a  Bradford,  ix  214.  f  ^i^-,  P-  214.     Morton's  Memorial. 

X  Ibid.  §  Ibid.  ||  Palfi-ey,  vol.  1,  p.  229. 


PROGEESS.  237 

He  held  by  the  Pilgrims  and  by  their  God,  spite  of 
enticements  and  obstacles,  and  died  "  leaving  some 
good  hopes  in  the  settlers'  hearts  that  his  soul  had 
srone  to  rest."* 

"  The  first  coveted  luxury  of  the  emancipated 
plantation  was  a  reunion  with  their  long-detained 
comrades  in  Holland.  Hitherto  the  pleasure  of 
others  might  decide  who  should  join  them.  That 
embarrassment  was  now  happily  withdrawn.  Their 
tender  mutual  recollections  had  naturally  been  re- 
freshed by  the  common  moaning  for  their  'loving 
and  faithful  pastor;'"  so  now  "the  Plymouth  gov- 
ernor and  some  of  his  chiefest  friends  had  serious 
cpnsideration,,not  only  how  they  might  discharge 
the  engagements  which  lay  so  heavily  upon  them, 
but  also  how  they  might  — if  possibly  they  could — 
devise  means  to  help  their  friends  at  Leyden  over 
to  them,  these  desiring  to  come  as  heartily  as  they 
to  have  them.  To  effect  this  they  resolved  to  run 
a  high  course  and  of  great  venture,  not  knowing 
otherwise  how  to  compass  it ;  which  was,  to  hire  the 
trade  of  the  colony  for  six  years,  and  in  that  time 
to  undertake  the  liquidation  of  the  whole  impend- 
ing debt,  so  that  when  the  specified  time  was  ended 
the  plantation  should  be  set  free,  with  freedom  of 
trade  to  the  generality."t 

Allerton  was  again  sent  to  England  with  full 

power  "  under  the  hand  and  seal"  of  the  Undertakers, 

to  close  the  old  bargain  and  to  negotiate  "wdth  some 

of  the  special  friends  of  the  colony  to  join  with 

o  EUiot,  vol.  1,  p.  85.  t  Bradford,  p.  226. 


238  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEKS. 

them*  in  this  tracle."t  The  mission  was  promptly 
completed.  In  the  spring  of  1628,  Allerton  returned, 
"  bringiug  a  reasonable  supply  of  goods."  He  "  re- 
ported that  he  had  paid  the  first  instalment  to  the 
Adventurers,  delivered  the  bonds  for  the  residue  of 
the  debt,  and  obtained  the  due  conveyance  and  re- 
lease ;  also  that  he  had  engaged  a  quartette  of 
friends:}: .  to  accept  an  interest  in  the  six  years'  hire 
of  the  colonial  trade,  in  return  for  which  they  had 
agreed  to  charge  themselves  with  the  transporta- 
tion of  the  Leyden  congregation.  Lastly,  he  had 
obtained  from  the  New  England  Council  a  patent 
for  land  on  the  Kennebec,  which  was  at  once 
turned  to  account  by  the  erection  of  a  block-house 
"in  that  river,  in  the  most  convenient  place  for 
Indian  trade"  and  a  traffic  with  the  Maine  fisher- 
men.§ 

At  this  same  time  Allerton  brought  out  with  him 
a  young  minister  named  Rogers,  the  first,  save  Ly- 
ford,  if  we  may  dignify  him  by  that  name,  possessed 
by  the  Plymouth  Pilgrims.ll  But  he  proved  only  a 
vexation  and  an  expense;  for,  being  "crazed  in  the 
brain,"  he  was  sent  back  to  Britain  ere  a  twelve- 

*  The  names  of  the  formers  of  the  trade  were  :  Bradford, 
Brewster,  Standish,  Prince,  Alden,  Howland,  and  Allerton.  Prince 
had  come  out  in  the  "Fortune,"  all  the  rest  in  the  "Mayflower." 
Palfrey. 

t  Hazard,  Prince,  Cheever's  Journal,  Thatcher. 

I  These  were  James  Shirley — who  became  their  English  agent — 
John  Beauchamp,  Richard  Andrews,  and  T.  Hathaway —  "  the  glue 
of  the  old  company."     Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  vol.  3,  j).  34. 

{>  Palfi-ey,  vol.  1,  p.  230. 

il  Thatcher,  Prince,  Morton's  Memorial. 


PEOGEESS.  239 

month  had  elapsed,  and  the  plantation  had  recourse 
once  more  to  stout  old  Brewster.'^" 

Bj  this  time  the  charge  of  Broivnism  and  big- 
oted exclusiveness,  so  often  levelled  at  the  Pilgrims, 
was  well  nigh  laid  in  England.  Hard-fisted  facts  had 
smitten  that  slander  so  often  in  the  face  that  it  lost 
its  hardihood.  Indeed,  remembering  the  character 
of  that  age,  the  Plymouth  church  was  singularly 
catholic.  Winslow  cites  many  instances  of  the  ad- 
mission to  its  communion  of  communicants  of  tliB 
French,  the  Dutch,  and  the  Scotch  churches,  merely 
by  virtue  of  their  being  so.t  He  says  :  "  TVe  ever 
placed  a  wide  difference  betwixt  those  who  grounded 
their  practice  on  the  word  of  God,  though  differing 
from  us  in  their  exi^osition  and  understanding  of  it, 
and  those  who  hate  reformers  and  reformation,  run- 
ning into  anti-Christian  opposition  and  persecution 
of  the  truth."  He  adds  :  "  'Tis  true,  we  profess  and 
desire  to  practise  separation  from  the  world ;  and  as 
the  churches  of  Christ  are  all  saints  by  calling,  so 
we  desire  to  see  the  grace  of  God  shining  forth — 
at  least  seemingly,  leaving  secret  things  to  God — in 
all  whom  we  admit  to  church-fellowshif),  and  to 
keep  off  such  as  openly  wallow  in  the  mire  of  their 
sins,  that  neither  the  holy  things  of  God,  nor  the 
communion  of  saints,  may  be  leavened  or  polluted 
thereby.  And  if  any  joining  us,  either  formerly  at 
Leyden,  or  since  our  New  England  residence,  have 
with  the  manifestation  of  faith  and  the  profession 

*  Cheever's  Journal.     Bradford,  p.  243. 
t  Mather's  Magualia,  vol.  1,  p.  62. 


2i0  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

of  holiness,  held  forth  therewith  separation  from  the 
cLurch  of  England,  I  have  divers  times,  both  in  the 
one  place  and  in  the  other,  heard  either  Mr.  Rob- 
inson, our  pastor,  or  Mr.  Brewster,  our  elder,  stop 
them  forthwith,  showing  them  that  we  required  no 
such  thing  at  their  hands ;  but  only  to  hold  forth 
Christ  Jesus,  holiness  in  the  fear  of  God,  and  a  sub- 
mission to  the  Scripture  ordinances  and  appoint- 
ments."* 

Such  were  the  simple  tenets  of  the  Plymouth 
church  under  the  instructions  of  Brewster — change 
of  heart  and  a  life  regulated  by  the  sacred  writ  the 
only  tests. 

And  now  the  Pilgrim  enterprise  began  to  take  a 
wide  range ;  they  had  already  acquired  rights  on 
Cape  Ann,  as  well  as  an  extensive  domain  on  the 
Kennebec,  now  covered  by  patent ;  and  they  were 
the  first  to  plant  an  English  settlement  on  the 
banks  of  the  silvery  Connecticut.f  All  around  them 
the  lusty  shouts  of  the  pioneers  were  heard.  They 
no  longer  stood  alone  on  the  verge  of  the  unbroken 
and  primeval  forest.  Civilization,  pushing  restlessly 
towards  the  setting  sun,  began  to  supplement  this 
nucleus  colony.  English  planters  were  already 
seated  at  Saco  and  at  Sagadahoc,  in  Maine. :j:  The 
red  men  who  haunted  the  coast  line  of  Massachu- 
setts Bay,  Avere  pushed  from  their  marshy  hunting- 
grounds  by  the  Puritan  colonists  who  followed  En- 
s' Cited  in  Mather's  Magnalia,  vol.  1,  pj).  62,  63. 
t  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  p.  321. 
X  Felt's  Hist,  of  New  England,  vol.  1,  p.  95. 


PEOGKESS.  241 

dicofct  into  the  wilderness.  And  in  the  west,  the 
patient,  phlegmatic  Dutch,  "  without  haste,  without 
rest,"  had  founded  New  Amsterdam  on  the  island 
of  Manhattan,  a  town  which  bathed  its  feet  in  the 
waters  of  okl  Hendrick  Hudson's  majestic  river,  and 
which  has  since  expanded  to  be  the  metropolis  of 
North  America.* 

No  occasion,  now,  to  complain  of  a  lack  of  com- 
pany. With  all  the  settlements  amicable  and  cor- 
dial relations  were  cemented  by  the  Pilgrim  Fathers 
of  Plymouth.  With  the  Dutch  planters,  especially, 
a  correspondence  was  had,  by  means  of  which  mu- 
tually kind  wishes  and  commercial  offices  were  in- 
terchanged.t  In  1627,  Isaac  de  Rasieres,  "  a  chief 
merchant  at  New  Amsterdam,  and  second  to  the 
Dutch  governor  of  the  New  Netherlands,"  visited 
Plymouth,  where  he  tarried  "  some  days,"  and  re- 
ceived friendly  entertainment.:]:  A  neighborly  busi- 
ness intercourse  was  commenced,  and  it  was  at  this 
time  that  the  Pilgrims  became  acquainted  Avith  the 
value  and  the  uses  of  ivampum.%  This  was  the  In- 
dian coin — the  dollars  and  cents  of  barbarism.     It 

*  "The  Dutch  had  trading  in  those  southern  parts  divers  years 
before  the  English  came,  but  they  began  no  phantation  until  after 
the  Pilgrims  came  and  were  here  seated."  Morton's  Memorial, 
p.  133,  note. 

f  Davis'  New  Amsterdam,  Booth's  History  of  New  York  City, 
Bradford.  X  Bradford,  p.  222,  et  seq. 

§  In  Eoger  Williams'  Key,  wampum  is  considered  as  Indian 
money,  and  is  described  in  the  twenty-fourth  chapter  of  that  in- 
teresting tract.  Their  lohile  money  they  called  wampum,  which 
signifies  white;  their  black,  suckawhack,  sucki  signifying  black. 
Hist.  Col.,  vol.  3,  p.  231. 

Pll;,'rim  Fathei'S.  11 


242  THE  PILGRIM  FATHEES. 

was  made  of  small  pieces  of  shell,  white  sometimes, 
but  often  purple,  and  ground,  polished,  drilled,  and 
strung  or  beaded. '^^ 

"  Neither  the  English  of  this  plantation  nor  of 
any  other  in  these  j^arts,"  remarks  Bradford,  "  had 
knowledge  of  wampum  till  now.  But  the  settlers 
bought  fifty  pounds'  worth  of  it  from  De  Basieres, 
who  told  them  how  vendable  it  was  at  their  Indian 
stations,  and  did  persuade  them  that  they  would 
find  it  so  at  Kennebec  ;  and  so  it  came  to  pass,  for 
though  at  first  it  stuck,  and  they  were  two  years  in 
w^orking  off  a  small  quantity,  yet  afterwards,  when 
the  inland  tribes  knew  of  it,  the  traders  could  scarce 
ever  get  enough  to  supply  the  demand,  for  many 
years  together."'!' 

De  Basieres  was  a  close  and  shrewd  observer, 
and  nothing  escaped  his  keen  eyes  at  Plymouth. 
On  his  return  he  wrote  a  letter  in  which  he  de- 
scribed at  length  the  salient  characteristics  of  the 
Pilgrim  colony.  Let  us  take  a  peep  into  the  quaint 
old  manuscript,  and  see  how  New  England  in  its 
Pilgrim  babyhood  looked  in  his  eyes : 

"New  Plymouth  lies  on  the  slope  of  a  hill 
stretching  east  towards  the  seashore.  It  has  a 
broad  street  about  a  cannot-shot  of  eight  hundred 
feet  long,  looking  down  the  slope,  with  a  street 
crossing  this  in  the  middle,  and  running  northward 

«  Mr.  Gookin  says  :  "Wampum  is  made  chiefly  by  the  Narra- 
gansett  Block  Island  Indians.  Upon  the  sandy  flats  and  shores  of 
those  coasts  the  ■walk  sheU  are  found."     Hist.  Col.,  vol.  1,  p.  152. 

t  Bradford,  p.  234. 


PKOGEESS.  243 

to  a  rivulet,  very  rapid  but  shallow,  which  there 
empties  into  the  sea,  and  soutliAvard  to  the  land. 
The  houses  are  built  of  hewn  planks,  with  gardens, 
also  enclosed  behind  and  at  the  sides  by  hewn 
planks,  so  that  their  gardens,  court-yards,  and  house« 
are  arranged  in  very  good  order,  with  a  stockade 
against  a  sudden  attack.  At  the  ends  of  the  streets 
there  are  three  wooden  gates.  Their  government  is 
after  the  English  form.  The  governor  is  annually 
elected.  In  inheritance  they  place  all  children  iu 
one  degree,  only  the  eldest  has  an  acknowledgment 
of  seniorit3\  They  have  made  stringent  laws  on 
the  subject  of  adultery  and  fornication,  and  these 
ordinances  they  enforce  very  strictly,  even  among 
the  savage  tribes  which  live  amongst  them. 

"Their  farms  are  not  so  good  as  ours  at  New 
Amsterdam,  because  they  are  more  stony,  and  con- 
sequently not  so  fit  for  the  plough.  They  have  their 
freedom  without  rendering  an  account  to  any  one ; 
only,  if  their  king  should  choose  to  send  them  a 
governor,  they  would  be  obliged  to  recognize  him 
as  sovereign  chief.  The  maize-seed  which  they  do 
not  require  for  their  own  use  they  deliver  over  to 
the  governor,  at  three  guilders  the  bushel,  who,  in 
his  turn,  sends  it  in  sloops  to  the  north  for  the 
traffic  in  skins  amongst  the  savages.  They  reckon 
one  bushel  of  maize  against  one  pound  of  beaver- 
skins.  They  have  better  means  of  living  than  our- 
selves, since  fish  swim  in  abundance  before  their 
very  doors.  There  are  also  many  birds,  such  as 
geese,  herons,  and  cranes,  and  other  small-legged 


244  THE  PILGBIM  FATHEES. 

birds,  which  are  seen  in  flocks  here  in  the  win- 
ter. 

"The  tribes  in  this  neighborhood  have  the  same 
customs  as  with  us,  only  they  are  better  conducted 
than  ours,  because  the  English  treat  them  fairly, 
and  give  them  the  example  of  better  ordinances  and 
a  better  life;  and  also,  to  a  certain  degree,  give 
them  laws,  by  means  of  the  respect  they  have  from 
the  very  fii'st  established  amongst  them."* 

In  1629,  the  bulk  of  the  long  lingering  Leyden 
exiles — among  the  rest  the  wife  and  two  sons  of 
John  E-obinsont — at  length  landed  at  Plymouth.:!: 
The  reunited  flock,  now  sadly  thinned  by  death, 
greeted  each  other  with  mutual  tears  and  caresses ; 
and  tightly-clasped  hands  and  wet  eyes  told  what 
the  voice  was  too  choked  to  say.  But  in  the  midst 
of  sadness  they  were  joyous,  for 

"  Hope  M^as  changed  to  glad  fruition  ; 
Faith  to  sight,  and  prayei-  to  praise." 

The  expense  of  transporting  these  friends  was 
very  heavy,  amounting  in  the  aggregate  to  six  hun- 
dred pounds,   as  we  learn  by  opening  Allerton's 

*  Mr.  Brodhead,  who  obtained  this  valuable  letter,  only  sum- 
marized in  the  text,  from  the  archives  at  the  Hague,  gives  it  in  full 
in  the  New  York  Hist.  Col.,  sec.  series,  vol.  2,  p.  343,  et  seq. 

t  Prince,  vol.  1,  p.  160.  Deane's  Scituate,  p.  332.  "Mrs.  Eob- 
inson,  widow  of  Kev.  John  Robinson,  came  over  with  the  latter 
company,  with  her  son  Isaac,  and  jierhaps  -with  another  son." 
Editorial  note  in  Bradford,  p.  247.  "  There  was  an  Abraham  Eob- 
inson  early  at  Gloucester,  who  is  surmised  to  have  been  a  son  of 
the  Leyden  minister."  Ibid.  It  has  been  thought  that  Mrs.  Eob- 
inson  did  not  remain  in  Plymouth,  but  went  to  Salem,  "where 
was  a  Mrs.  Bobinson  very  early."  MS.  Letters  of  J.  J.  Babson, 
Esq.,  of  Gloucester,  Mass.  J  Bradford,  pp.  247,  248. 


PROGKESS.  245 

charge  roll*  Nor  was  this  all;  destitiite  and  Lome- 
less,  they  had  to  be  maintained  the  better  part  of 
fifteen  months  before  thej  were  able  to  stand  on 
their  own  feet,  and  pay  their  way.  They  had  no 
harvest  of  their  own  to  reap.  Land  was  given  them 
and  block-houses  were  run  up  for  their  shelter. 
Then  they  planted  "  against  the  coming  of  another 
season. "t  The  Pilgrims,  though  already  overloaded 
with  debt,  did  not  grudge  this  large  addition  to  the 
budget  of  expense,  but  showed  herein  "  a  rare  ex- 
ami:)le  of  brotherly  love  and  Christian  care ;"  for 
Bradford  says  that  "  even  thus  they  were,  for  the 
most  part,  both  welcome  and  useful,  as  they  feared 
God  and  were  sober  livers.":]: 

But  if  the  devout  colonists  of  the  Plymouth 
slope  were  "  sober  livers,"  all  their  neighbors  were 
not.  It  seems  that  some  years  before  this  time, 
perhaps  in  1625,  perhaps  a  twelv^emonth  earlier, 
an  English  Captain  Wollaston,  inoculated  with  the 
general  rage  for  planting  settlements,  had  attempt- 
ed to  drop  one  on  that  rocky  height  near  Boston 
bay  which  still  bears  his  name.§  Like  the  foolish 
architect  in  the  Bible,  he  built  on  a  sandy  founda- 
tion, though  his  colony  was  bottomed  on  a  rock — 
so  strange  are  the  paradoxes  of  this  mortal  life. 
"  Not  finding  things  to  answer  his  expectations,"  he 
did  not  tarry  long  in  his  eyry,  but  pressed  on  into 
Virginia  with  a  portion  of  his  emigrants,  intending 

*  Bradford,  pp.  247,  248.  f  Ibid.,  p.  249. 

I  Bradford's  Letter-Book,  in  Mass.  Hist.  Col.,  vol.  3,  pp.  69, 
70.  §  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  233. 


246  THE  PILGEOI  FATHEES. 

soon  to  return  for  the  rest.*  So  mucli  for  the  in- 
tention. But  in  his  absence  one  of  his  followers, 
Thomas  Morton,  "who  had  been  a  kind  of  pettifog- 
ger, of  Fernival's  Inn,"  London,  and  was  now  broken 
down  into  an  uneasy  bloat,  ripe  for  mischief,  obtained 
an  ascendency  over  the  waiting  colonists,  and  there- 
by assumed  control.  "  Then,"  says  the  old  recitor, 
"they  fell  into  great  licentiousness  of  life,  in  all 
profaneness,  Morton  becoming  lord  of  misrule,  and 
maintaining,  as  it  were,  a  school  of  atheism.  Hav- 
ing gotten  some  goods  into  their  hands  by  much 
trading  with  the  Indians,  they  spent  all  vainly  in 
quaffing  both  wine  and  stronger  liquors  in  great 
excess — as  some  have  reported,  as  much  as  ten 
pounds'  worth  of  a  morning.  They  also  set  up  a 
May-pole,  and  danced  and  drank  around  it,  frisk- 
ing about  like  so  many  fairies,  or /wni'es  rather:  and 
Avorse  practices  they  had,  as  if  they  sought  anew 
to  revive  and  celebrate  the  obscene  feast  of  the 
Roman  goddess  Flora,  or  the  beastly  practices  of 
the  mad  Bacchanahans.  Morton  pretended  withal 
to  be  a  poet,  and  composing  sundry  rhymes  and 
loose  verses,  .some  tending  to  lasciviousness  and 
others  to  detraction  and  scandal,  he  affixed  these 
to  his  idle,  or  idol,  May-pole.  The  name  of  the 
height  was  changed;  it  was  called  'Merry-Mount,' 
as  if  this  jollity  would  have  been  perpetual. 

"  Now  to  maintain  this  riotous  prodigality  and 
profuse  expenditure,  Morton,  esteeming  himself  law- 
less, and  hearing  what  gain  the  fishermen  made  by 

*  Bradford,  p.  236. 


PEOGEESS.  247 

trading  muskets,  powder,  and  shot  amongst  them- 
selves, decided,  as  head  of  this  consortship,  to  begin 
the  practice  in  these  parts  among  the  Indians,  teach- 
ing them  how  to  use,  charge,  and  fire  their  pieces, 
and  the  kind  of  shot  fitted  to  be  used  for  different 
purposes,  as  hunting  and  war.  Infinite  was  the 
mischief  which  came  by  this  wicked  man's  greed ; 
in  that,  despite  all  lay\^s  for  the  restraint  of  selling 
ammunition  and  weapons  to  the  natives,  base  cove- 
tousness  so  far  prevailed,  that  the  Indians  became 
amply  provided  with  guns,  powder,  shot,  rapiers, 
and  pistols,  also  well  skilled  in  their  use,  and  in  the 
repair  of  defective  arms,"* 

These  things,  together  with  the  debauchery  of 
Indian  women  and  the  incitement  of  his  flaunting 
and  uuAvhipped  crimes,  which  drew  the  dissolute  from 
all  directions  to  swell  his  rabble  rout,  filled  the  sur- 
rounding colonists  with  mingled  grief  and  alarm. 
At  the  outset  expostulation  was  essayed.  "  In  a 
friendly  and  neighborly  way,  Morton  was  admon- 
ished to  forbear  these  courses."  A  peculiar  char- 
acteristic reveals  the  man — Ex  jxde  Herciilem.  The 
anarch  refused  to  desist. 

"  Obtaining  false  rules  prankt  in  reason's  garb," 

he  denied  the  jurisdiction  of  Plymouth,  and  an- 
swered the  remonstrance  with  an  affront.  A  second 
appeal  was  equally  futile.  Then,  with  their  accus- 
tomed stern  decision,  the  Pilgrims  acted.  Standish 
was  sent  to  curb  this  bold  blasphemer.  '•'  Morton 
fortified  his  comrades  with  drink,  barricaded  his 

<^'  Morton's  Memorial,  pp.  137.  138. 


248  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

house,  and  defied  assault."  But  liappilj  no  blood 
was  spilled.  The  reckless,  graceless  rake  succumbed 
without  a  fight.  He  was  taken  first  to  Plymouth, 
and  thence  conveyed  to  England  for  trial.  And  so 
ended  this  experiment  of  immorality.* 

This  episode,  with  others,  is  convincing  proof 
that  the  Pilgrims  had  not  wandered  into  Utopia; 
nor  did  they  seek  that  fabled  bourne.  They  ex- 
pected trouble,  and  they  serenely  accepted  toil, 
thanking  God  just  as  joyfully  for  a  little  as  for 
much.  And,  indeed,  they  felt  that  they  walked  on 
mercies.  They  "found  all  things  working  together 
for  their  good."  They  had  already  planted  a  stable 
government,  which  had  been  severely  tested  by  open 
outbreak  and  by  insidious  assault.  Their  friends 
had  found  their  way  to  them  across  the  sea;  and 
since  they  had 

'■  Liformed  their  unacquainted  feet 
In  the  blind  mazes  of  this  tangled  wood," 

their  infant  state  had  been  emancipated  from  the 
mercantile  dictation  of  unfriendly  men.  The  bit- 
terness was  past ;  the  night  was  nearly  spent.  Joc- 
und day  stood  a-tip-toe  on  the  mistj^  mountain's 
top.  They  rested  on  God's  heart.  Surely,  thej' 
had  occasion  to 

'■  shake  the  depths  of  the  desert  gloom 


With  their  hymns  of  lofty  cheer." 
They  might  fitly  chant  pseans,  and  sing  till 

"  the  stars  heard  and  the  sea! 

And  the  sounding  isles  of  the  dim  woods  rang 
To  the  anthem  of  the  free." 

*  Bradford,  Morton's  Memoriid,  etc. 


EBENEZER.  249 


CHAPTEE   XX. 

EBENEZER. 

♦'Behold,  they  come,  those  sainted  forms, 
Uushaken  through  the  strife  of  storms  ; 
Heaven's  darkest  cloud  hangs  coldly  down, 
And  earth  puts  on  its  rndest  frown  ; 
But  colder,  ruder  was  the  hand, 
That  drove  them  from  their  own  dear  land. " 

Spkague. 

"These  are  the  living  lights, 
That  from  our  bold,  green  heights, 

Shall  shine  afar, 
Till  they  who  name  the  name 
Of  freedom,  towards  the  flame 
Come,  as  the  Magi  came 

Towards  Bethlehem's  star." 

PlERPONT. 

While  the  Plymouth  Pilgrims,  through  these 
initial  years,  were  engaged  in  a  stern  tussle  with 
unkempt  nature,  in  a  wrestling-match  with  froward 
men,  and  in  an  essay  to  survive  the  "  thousand  nat- 
ural ills  that  flesh  is  heir  to"  in  new  settlements, 
writing  victoria  sine  clade  on  every  page  of  the  strug- 
gle, the  Scripture  party  in  England  was  flounder- 
ing in  a  "  slough  of  despond."  Charles  I.  was  that 
most  strange  and  baleful  of  anomalies,  a  treacher- 
ous moralist.  He  was  the  painting  of  a  virtue. 
Outwardly  he  was  Cato  ;   inwardly  he  was  lago. 

"  This  prince,"  says  Bolingbroke,  "  had  sucked  in. 

11* 


250  THE   PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

with  liis  mother's  milk  those  absurd  principles 
which  his  father  was  so  industrious,  and,  unhap- 
pily, so  successful  in  propagating."*  Back  of  him 
stood  a  powerful  faction,  omnipotent  in  the  church, 
regnant  in  the  state,  as  wedded  as  himself  to  the 
tenets  of  absolutism,  and  eager  to  cry  Amen  to  his 
most  doubtful  acts — often,  indeed,  instigating  them. 
Both  the  king  and  his  backers  were  enamoured 
of  that  formal  Phariseeism  which  made  broad  its 
phylacter}^  and  wrote  "holier  than  thou"  upon  its 
forehead.  Of  course,  then,  they  could  not  but  hate 
those  godl}'' Puritans,  both  inside  and  oiitside  of  the 
national  Establishment,  who,  like  a  reproving  Na- 
than, constantly  inveighed  against  self-righteous 
ceremonialism,  and  sought  to  inaugurate  a  purer 
and  more  spiritual  ecclesiasticism.  The  Conform- 
ists had  the  power,  as  they  had  the  will.  Elizabeth 
had  commenced  this  crusade  against  the  "  Gospel- 
lers;" James  I.  had  continued  the  "harry;"  but 
Charles  I.  outdid  Termagant,  and  he  did  out-Herod 
Herod.  Puritanism  was  girt  with  a  penal  code; 
and  now,  choked  almost  purple,  it  gazed  with  an 
agony  of  interest  across  the  Avater  to  America,  to 
see  if  haply  it  might  here  find  an  asylum.  The 
chances  of  a  successful  colonization  of  these  "West- 
ern wilds  were  ardently  canvassed.  The  progress 
of  the  Pilgrim  settlement  was  closely  watched,  and 
the  spirits  of  the  English  Puritans  were  at  high  or 
ebb  tide  in  proportion  as  that  test  enterprise  seemed 
to  oscillate  towards  success  or  eclipse.     As  yet  only 

*  Vide  Harris'  Life  of  Charles  I.,  p.  278. 


EBENEZER.  251 

tlie  low  premonitory  moanings  of  the  revolution  of 
1641  were  heard.  Throughout  the  island,  godly 
men  began  to  think  of  seeking  safety  and  freedom 
of  conscience  in  exile ;  and  in  this  they  were  en- 
couraged by  the  cxperimeidum  crucis  of  Plj-mouth. 
"  I  pray  you,"  wrote  Shirley,  the  English  agent  of 
the  Pilgrims,  "  subordinate  all  temporal  things  to 
success,  that  you  may  disappoint  the  hopes  of  our 
foes,  and  keep  open  an  asylum  into  which  we  may 
all  soon  crowd,  unless  things  mend  in  this  now 
stricken  island."* 

But  "  things  did  not  mend,"  and  multitudes  be- 
gan to  iDrejDare  for  emigration.  And  here  mark  a 
singular  fact.  We  have  seen  how  disastrously  those 
enterprises  failed  which  bottomed  colonization  sim- 
ply on  the  greed  of  gain.  The  victor's  ba^-s  were 
only  for  the  brow  of  moral  pioneers.  It  was  as 
though  God  had  said,  "No;  I  will  not  plant  men 
in  New  England  who  count  religion  only  twelve 
and  the  world  thirteen."  The  only  successful  col- 
onists of  the  northeastern  coast-line  of  the  Atlantic 
were  men  whose  motive  for  emigration  Avas  religion, 
and  who  based  their  action, on  an  idea — faith. 

It  happened,  in  162i,  that  Roger  Conant,  "  a 
most  religious,  prudent,  worth}^  gentleman,"  and  a 
Puritan,  but  not  a  Separatist,  somewhat  dissatisfied 
with  the  rigid  rule  of  Bradford,  left  Plymouth  in  the 
crisis  of  the  Lyford  muddle,t  and  entering  his  pin- 

*  Bradford's  Letter-book. 

t   "  'T  is  not  known  when  Conant  came  over.     Nothing  appears 
In  any  of  the  Plymouth  documents  to  confirm  Hubbard's  state- 


252  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

nace,  sailed  across  tlie  bay  to  Nantasket.*  Tarry- 
ing there  but  a  twelvemonth,  he  pushed  on  to  Cape 
Ann;  where,  finding  a  knot  of  fishermen  who  resided 
there  permanently,  occupying  themselves  in  curing 
fish  in  the  absence  of  the  smacks  of  their  fellow- 
voyageurs,  he  resolved  to  pause.  While  sojourning 
here,  the  English  merchants  who  had  sent  out  these 
fishermen  who  here  stood  huddled  together  on  the 
cape,  appointed  Conant  their  agent ;  whereupon  he, 
"not  liking  the  present  site,  transported  his  com- 
pany to  Naumkeag,  some  five  leagues  distant,  to  the 
southwest  of  Cape  Anu."t 

But  neither  removal  nor  Conant's  energy  saved 
this  venture  from  financial  collapse ;]:  and  the  brave 
pioneer,  in  1625,  found  himself  deserted  by  most  of 
his  companions  and  without  an  occupation,  in  the 
midst  of  the  tenantless  huts  of  frustrated  trade. 
Then  religious  sentiment  came  to  his  rescue.  "  To 
the  eye  of  faith,  mountains  are  crystal,  distance 
may  be  shaken  hands  with,  oceans  are  nothing." 
So  now  old  John  White  of  Dorchester,  in  England, 
"  a  famous  Puritan  divine  of  great  gravity,  pres- 
ence, and  influence,"  zealous  to  "  sjjread  the  gos- 
pel and  to  establish  his  way,"  looking  across  the 

ment,  that  Conant  was  one  of  Lyford's  party  at  Plymouth.  Though 
historians  have  adopted  that  ipse  dixit,  it  rests  on  his  word  alone. 
But  since  Hubbard  and  Conant  were  afterwards  neighbors  and 
friepO-s,  he  is  likely  to  have  been  well  informed."  Palfrey,  vol.  1. 
p.  260,  note. 

*  Elliot.     Hubbard's  Hist,  of  New  England,  chap.  18. 

t  Hubbard,  chap.  9.     Palfrey,  Elliot. 

X  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  286. 


EBENEZEE  253 

Atlantic,  descried  Conant,  a  lonely  sentinel  of  Puri- 
tanism on  the  northern  shore.*  The  sagacious  pas- 
tor saw  in  Nanmkeag  a  point  d'aj^jmi.  He  at  once 
wrote  Conant :  "  I  have  been  apprized  of  the  failure 
of  the  merchants ;  but  do  not  desert  your  post.  I 
promise  that  if  you,  with  Woodbury,  Balch,  and 
Palfrey,  the  three  honest  and  prudent  men  lately 
employed  in  the  fisheries,  will  stay  at  Naumkeag, 
I  will  procure  a  patent  for  you,  and  likewise  send 
3'ou  whatever  you  write  for,  either  men,  or  j^ro- 
visions,  or  goods  wherewith  to  begin  an  Indian 
trade."t 

Surprised  and  reinvigorated,  Conant  prevailed, 
though  not  without  difficulty,  on  his  companions  to 
remain  with  him,  and  they  all  "  stayed  at  the  peril 
of  their  lives. "| 

In  1627,  Woodbury  sailed  for  England  in  quest 
of  supplies.§  Meantime  "  the  business  came  to  agi- 
tation in  London;  and  being  at  first  approved  by 
some  and  disliked  by  others,  by  dint  of  much  argu- 
ment and  disputation,  it  grew  to  be  well  known ; 
insomuch  that,  some  men  showing  affection  for  the 
work,  and  offering  the  help  of  their  purses  if  fit 
men  might  be  procured  to  go  over,  inquiry'  Avas 
made  whether  any  would  be  willing  to  engage  their 
persons  in  the  voyage.  Thus  it  fell  out  that  at  last 
they  lighted,  among  others,  on  John  Endicott,  a 

*  Elliott,  vol,  1,  p.  139. 

f  Hubbard,  chap.  17. 

J  Conant's  petition  of  May  28, 1671,  in  Mass.  Hist.  Archives. 

§  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  287. 


251  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEKS. 

man  Avell  known  to  clivers  persons  of  good  repute. 
He  manifested  much  willingness  to  accept  of  the 
oflfer  as  soon  as  it  was  tendered,  which  gave  great 
encouragement  to  such  as  were  still  doubtful  about 
setting  on  this  work  of  erecting  a  new  colony  on  an 
old  foundation."* 

Under  the  patronage  of  Dudley,  and  Salton- 
stall,  and  Eaton,  and  Pyncheon,  and  Bellingham, 
men  of  substance  and  "  gentlemen  born,"  men  will- 
ing and  able  to  offer  "  the  help  of  their  purses," 
reinforced  by  the  good  wishes  of  Puritanism  at 
large,  the  new  scheme  soon  got  upon  its  working 
fe^t,  and  walked  forward  to  success.  But  so  far 
the  project  rested  on  parchment.  It  must  be  vivi- 
fied, and  sheltered  beneath  the  imprimatur  of  a  hos- 
tile government.  "  Many  riddles  must  be  resolved," 
said  old  Shirley,  "  and  many  locks  must  be  opened 
by  the  silver,  nay,  the  golden  key."t  So  they  pur- 
chased of  the  Council  for  New  England  "  a  strip  of 
land,  in  width  three  miles,  north  of  the  Merrimack, 
and  three  miles  south  of  the  Charles  river,  and  run- 
ning back  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Western  ocean ; 
so  that  the}^  Avere  not  likely  to  be  crowded.":}:  Thus, 
though  it  might  say  as  the  chief  captain  Lysias  said 
to  Paul,  "  With  a  great  sum  of  money  obtained  I 
this  freedom,"  the  new  colony  had  "a  local  habita- 
tion and  a  name"  ere  it  was  launched. 

It  has  been  well  said,  that  Endicott  was  just  the 
map  to,  lead,  this  venture ;  firm,  rugged,  hopeful, 

*  Planters'  Plea,  chap.  9.  f  Cited  in  Bradford,  p.  251. 

t  Elliot,  vol.  1,  pp.  139,  140. 


EBENEZER.  255 

zealous,  devout,  lie  knew  no  such  word  as  fail.  So 
on  the  20tli  of  June,  1628,  he  took  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren, and  "  not  much  above  fifty  or  sixty  other  per- 
sons," and  plunged  across  the  Avater.* 

They  reached  New  England  in  the  autumnf — 
that  hazy,  glowing,  golden  season,  when  the  woods 
hang  out  their  myriad-tinted  banners  to  the  wind, 
when  the  streams  gurgle  most  laughingly,  when 
Nature  claps  her  hands  with  joy,  and  the 

"Hills,  rock-ribbed  and  ancient  as  tlie  sun," 

smooth  their  wrinkled  fronts  into  unwonted  soft- 
ness. Endicott  must  have  had  quite  a  different  idea 
of  the  western  wilds  from  that  which  stern,  icy  De- 
cember daguerreotyped  upon  the  minds  of  Bradford 
and  his  coadjutors. 

At  once  fraternizing  with  Conant's  sentinel 
squad — apprized  of  their  coming  by  Woodbury, 
who  had  returned  ere  Endicott  sailed — the  new- 
comers proceeded  to  put  up  additional  cottages; 
and  they  called  the  nascent  hamlet  Salem,  "for  the 
'peace  which  they  had  and  hoped  in  it.":}:  Like  their 
brothers  at  Plymouth,  they  immediately  began  to  ex- 
plore tho  surrounding  country.  Imagine  their  sur- 
prise when,  on  one  occasion,  they  stumbled  across 
"  an  English  palisaded  and  thatched  house."  Ap- 
proachmg  cautiously,  they  heard  the  ringing  music 
of  an  anvil.  Here,  in  the  heart  of  the  wilderness, 
lived  Thomas  AValford,  a  hermit  smith  who  had 

*  Planters'  Plea,  chap.  9.     Johnson's  Wonder-working  Provi- 
dence.    Belknap's  Biography,  p.  249.     Hubbard's  Hist. 
\  Ibid.  ±  Mather's  Magnalia,  vol.  1,  pp.  67,  68. 


256  THE   PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

won  wide  favor  with  the  Indians  bj  iiis  skill  in 
workincr  metals.* 

From  this  and  kindred  incidents,  historians  have 
loved  to  draw  a  moral,  depicting  the  excess  of  indi- 
viduality which  marks  the  Teutonic  races.  The 
Saxon  inevitably  individuates.  He  can  stand  alone ; 
is  self-reliant  and  aggressive ;  asks  only,  with  the  old 
cynic,  that  intruders  shall  get  out  of  his  sunlight. 
He  does  not  gather  into  cities  because  he  is  weak, 
nor  because  he  is  social.  He  is  willing,  for  a  pur- 
pose, to  go  out  from  men,  and  to  create  a  society 
patterned  on  his  own  model.  'Tis  a  high  qual- 
ity when  properly  attempered,  making  individuals 
kings  and  nations  independent.  It  explores  and 
subdues  unknown  and  dreaded  continents,  and  is 
the  father  of  that  marvellous  enterprise  which  to- 
day realizes  Puck's  prophecy,  and  "  puts  a  girdle 
round  the  earth  in  forty  minutes." 

Walford's  hermitage  was  in  Mishawam.  The 
locality  seemed  favorable  for  a  settlement.  The 
explorers  returned  to  Salem  with  their  report ;  and 
ere  long  "  a  portion  of  the  colonists  established 
themselves  around  the  forge  of  the  sturdy  black- 
smith ;  and  with  the  old  patriotic  feeling,  which 
neither  wrongs  nor  suiferings  could  altogether  root 
out,  they  named  the  new  settlement  Charlestotv}i, 
in  honor  of  a  king  whose  severities  had  driven 
them  from  the  land  of  their  fathers."! 

The  report  of  Endicott's  successful  colonization, 

*  Charlestowu  Eecords,  Palfrey,  Elliot,  Everett's  Address, 
t  Wilson's  Pilgrim  Fathers,  p.  4S3. 


EBENEZEE,  257 

whicli  reached  England  early  in  1629,  encouraged 
White,  "  the  mam  promoter  and  chief  organizer  of 
this  business,"  to  plant  the  adventure  upon  a 
broader,  firmer  foundation.  The  original  company 
was  but  a  voluntary,  unincorporated  partnership,* 
•This  was  now  "much  enlarged"  bv  recruits  from 
the  Puritans  "  disaffected  to  the  rulers  in  church 
and  state."t  The  next  step  was,  to  get  a  charter 
and  an  incorporation.  This  was  solicited,  and  after 
some  little  difficulty  and  dela}-,  obtained.  On  the 
4tli  of  March,  1629,  Charles  I.  affixed  the  royal 
seal  to  a  parchment  which  erected  White's  coterie 
into  a  body  politic,  under  the  title  of  "  The  Gov- 
ernor and  Company  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  in  New 
England,"! 

"  The  patent  passed  the  seals  a  few  days  only 
before  Charles  I,,  in  a  public  state  paper,  avowed 
his  design  of  governing  England  without  a  Parlia- 
ment."! It  was  cherished  by  the  colonists  for  more 
than  half  a  century  as  a  most  precious  boon ;  and 
the  old  charterll  is  the  germ  of  that  "  bright,  con- 
summate flower,"  the  later  constitution, IF 

"  The  administration  of  the  affairs  of  this  puis- 
sant corporation,"  remarks  Bancroft,  "was  intrusted 
to  a  governor,  a  deputy,  and  eighteen  assistants, 

*  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  290. 

■j-  Colony  Records.  Cradock's  Letter  in  Young's  Chronicles. 

I  Prince  ;  Hazard.     Hubbard's  Hist.     Memoir  of  J.  Endicott, 
Salem,  18i7.  §  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  p.  342. 

II  This  is  filed  in  the  State-House  in  Boston,  and  is  printed  ia 
Colony  Laws,  in  Hutchinson's  Call,  and  in  Hazard.     Bancroft. 

IT  Palfrey,  WUson, 


258  THE   PILGEIM  FATHEKS. 

wlio  were  to  be  annually  elected  by  a  general  vote 
of  the  members  of  tlie  body  politic.  Four  times  a 
year,  or  oftener  if  desired,  a  general  assembly  of 
tlie  freemen  was  to  be  held  ;  and  to  these  assem- 
blies, which  Avere  invested  with  the  necessary  pow- 
ers of  legislation,  inquest,  and  superintendence,  the. 
most  important  matters  were  referred.  No  provis- 
ion required  the  assent  of  the  king  to  render  the 
acts  of  the  colonial  authorities  valid.  In  his  eye  it 
was  but  a  trading  corporation,  not  a  civil  govern- 
ment. Its  doings  were  esteemed  as  indifferent  as 
those  of  any  guild  in  England ;  and  if  grave  pow- 
ers of  jurisdiction  in  America  were  conceded,  it  was 
only  because  successful  trade  demanded  the  con- 
cession."* 

Nothing  was  said  of  religious  liberty.  The 
crown  may  have  relied  on  its  power  to  restrain  it ; 
the  emigrants  may  have  trusted  to  distance  or 
obscurity  to  protect  it.t  But  enough  was  gained. 
The  charter  necessitated  full  liberty,  "If  you  plant 
an  oak  in  a  flower-vase,"  says  Goethe,  "  either  the 
oak  must  wither  or  the  vase  musif  crack,"  The 
Puritans  meant  to  let  it  crack.  It  is  singular  that 
neither  Charles  nor  his  lynx-eyed  ministers  should 
have  detected  the  freedom  or  scented  the  heresy 
which  lurked  in  the  broad  terms  of  the  glorious  old 
parchment. 

In  the  old  legend,  a  fisherman  took  a  casket  out 
of  the  sea,  and  found  on  its  cover  the  seal  of  Solo- 
omou.     He  broke  it,  and  out  of  the  slender  casket 
*  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  pp.  342,  343.        f  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  291. 


EBENEZEK.  259 

rose  a  giant  till  be  lifted  into  colossal  sliape,  and 
raised  his  right  hand  to  crush  the  interloper.  So 
now  Charles  broke  the  Solomon-seal  of  his  coer- 
cion, and  enabled  this  young  giant  of  the  West  to 
rise  to  its  legitimate  proportions,  clutching  in  its 
right  hand  the  wholesome  sceptre  which  should 
crush  all  obstacles  to  progressive  liberty.  In  the 
fable,  the  fisherman,  by  a  cunning  story,  lured  the 
giant  to  go  back  into  the  casket,  which  he  then 
tossed  back  again  into  the  sea.  But  neither  Charles 
nor  his  successors  could  ever  persuade  America  to 
go  back  into  the  box. 


230  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 


CHAPTEK   XXI. 

"FAREWELL,  DEAR  ENGLAND." 

"With  news  the  time's  in  labor,  and  throws  forth 
Each  minute  some. "  Shakspeabe. 

"Why  should  we  crave  a  hallowed  spot? 
An  altar  is  iu  each  man's  cot ; 
A  church  in  every  grove  that  spreads 
Its  living  roof  above  our  heads." 

Wordsworth. 

With  the  precious  charter  in  its  pocket,  the 
complacent  Massachusetts  Company  strode  out  of 
the  vojal  antechamber,  and  proceeded  at  once  to 
effect  an  organization.  Matthew  Cradock  was 
elected  to  the  gubernatorial  chair;  and  to  Endi- 
cott,  as  deputy,  was  delegated  the  government  of 
New  England." 

A  letter  of  instructions  was  indited.  It  was 
unique,  and  highly  illustrative  of  -the  benevolent 
spirit  of  these  builders  of  states — Conditores  Impe- 
riorum — to  whose  brotherhood  Lord  Bacon,  in  "the 
true  marshalling  of  the  sovereign  degrees  of  honor," 
assigns  the  highest  placet  Let  us  cull  some  spe- 
cimen paragraphs  from  the  old  parchment :  "  If  any 
of  the  savages" — such  were  the  orders  long  and 
uniformly  followed  and  placed  on  record  more  than 

*  Young's  Chronicles,  Prince,  Mass.  Hist.  Coll. 
+  Bacon's  Works,  vol.  2. 


'^"FAKEWELL,  DEAE  ENGLAND."      23L 

half  a  century  before  William  Peiin  proclaimed  the 
pi'incij)les  of  peace  on  the  borders  of  the  Dela- 
ware*— "  pretend  right  of  inheritance  to  all  or  any 
part  of  the  lands  granted  in  our  patent,  we  pray  you 
endeavor  to  purchase  their  title,  that  we  may  avoid 
the  least  scruple  of  intrusion."'!-  Elsewhere  the 
colonial  authorities  were  bidden  "  particularly  to 
publish,  that  no  wrong  nor  injury  be  offered  to  the 
Indians.".]: 

Tobacco  was  held  in  especial  abhorrence,  and 
denounced  as  "  a  trade  by  this  whole  Company  dis- 
owned, and  utterly  disclaimed  by  some  of  the  chief- 
est,  who  absolutely  declare  themselves  unwilling  to 
have  a  hand  in  the  plantation,  if  the  intention  be 
to  cherish  or  permit  the  culture  thereof."§ 

Endicott  was  authorized  to  expel  the  incorrigi- 
ble, using  force  when  necessary.  It  was  also  ap- 
pointed that  all  labor  should  cease  at  "  three  o'clock 
on  Saturday  afternoon,  in  preparation  for  the  Sab- 
bath."|| 

The  colonial  seal  was  an  Indian  erect,  with  an 
arrow  in  his  right  hand,  and  the  motto,  "  Come 
over  and  help  us,"  peculiarly  appropriate  in  that 
age.     The  old  seal  has  been  retained  by  Massachu- 

7 

*  Bancroft,  vol.  1 ,  p.  346. 

t  Prince's  Chronicles,  p.  2i7.  J  Ibid. 

§  Cited  in  Elliot,  vol.  1,  p.  142.  "In  a  subsequent  letter  this 
^is  reiterated  thus :  '  We  especially  desire  you  to  take  care  that  no 
obacco  be  planted  under  your  government,  ituless  it  be  some 
small  qiiantity  for  mere  necessity,  for  physic,  or  the  preservation 
of  health  ;  and  that  the  same  be  taken  privately  by  old  men,  and 
no  other.' "     Ibid. 

II  Young's  Chronicles,  p.  141.     Hazard,  vol.  1. 


t 


262  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

setts  ;  but  the  motto  has  been  superseded  by  Alger- 
non Sydney's  famous  Latin,  Sub  libertate  quietem* 

"No  idle  drone  may  live  amongst  us;"  so  ran 
the  colonial  statute ;  and  it  "  was  the  spirit  as  well 
as  the  law  of  the  dauntless  community  which  was 
to  turn  the  sterility  of  New  England  into  a  cluster 
of  wealthy,  cultured,  model  states." 

The  charter  had  been  granted  to  the  Massachu- 
setts Company  in  March ;  in  April  preparations 
were  hastening  for  the  embarkation  of  fresh  emi- 
grants.f  It  was  not  difficult  to  get  recruits;  for 
the  pinchers  of  tender  consciences  grew  daily  more 
rigorous.  Puritanism  saw  popery  prejDaring  to 
spring  upon  it  upon  one  side;  it  felt  the  ravenous 
bite  of  the  Conformists  on  the  other  side.  It  was 
worse  than  folly  to  look  to  the  government  for  re- 
dress ;  that  was  the  engine  of  the  persecutors.  Vil- 
liers  of  Buckingham,  that  volatile  madman,  who  was 

"Every  thing  by  turns,  and  nothing  long," 

as  Pope  has  painted  him,  had  been  recently  assas- 
sinated. His  place  in  the  king's  confidence  was 
now  filled  by  Strafford,  the  systematizer  of  tjranny 
in  England,  whose  audacious  genius  impelled  him 
to  attempt  to  nationalize  despotism,  and  erected 
the  tenets  of  absolute  power  inside  of  constitu- 
tional forms.'!  By  his  side  stood  Laud,  his  Siam- 
ese twin,  a  prelate  who  assumed  to  ransack  the  uni- 
verse— 

*  Bancroft.  f  Ibid.,  vol.  1,  p.  345. 

t  History  of  the  English  Puritans,  American  Tract  Society,  N. 
Y.,  1867. 


"FAEEWELL,  DEAR  ENGLAND."      263 

"Whose  tongue 
Outvenomed  all  the  worms  of  Nile." 

The  statesman  and  the  priest  carried  it  with  a  high 
hand  f  and  the  time  was  not  yet  when  Cozens  conld 
say,  "  The  king  has  no  more  authority  in  ecclesias- 
tical matters  than  the  boy  w^io  rubs  my  horse's 

heels."t 

The  suffering  Non- conformists,  "meted  and 
peeled"  at  home,  heard  with  rapture  of  that  Puri- 
tan colony  in  the  wilderness,  governed  by  men 
whose  opinions  accorded  with  their  own,  and  shel- 
tered beneath  the  segis  of  a  royal  charter.  Emi- 
gration began  to  assume  unprecedented  propor- 
tions iX  and  the  Company  might  have  its  pick  of  the 
best  men  in  the  island.  But  much  good  seed  was 
left ;  enough  to  grow  Cromwell,  and  nourish  Hamp- 
den, and  succor  Pym. 

By  the  middle  of  April,  1629,  six  ships  were 
ready  to  sail;  and  under  license  from  the  Lord 
Treasurer,  these  were  freighted  with  "  eighty  w'om- 
en  and  maids  and  twenty-six  children" — hostages 
of  the  fixed  attachment  of  the  emigrants  to  the  New 
World — "and  two  hundred  men,  with  victuals,  arms, 
tools,  and  necessary  wearing  apparel."§  They  also 
took  on  board  "  one  hundred  and  forty  head  of  cat- 
tle, and  forty  goats.ll 

As  this  was  a  religious  enterprise,  care  was  taken 

*  Hist,  of  the  English  Puritans,  ut  autea. 

t  Hume,  Hist,  of  Eng.,  vol.  2,  p.  253. 

i  Perry,  Eccl.  Hist.,  vol.  1. 

§  Mass.  Col.  Rec,  vol.  1.     Palfrey. 

II  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  293. 


201  THE   PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

"  to  make  plentiful  provision  of  godly  ministers."* 
Four  clergymen  now  embarked  for  Massaclmsetts 
Bay.  Two  of  these  made  no  figure  on  the  north 
shore  of  New  England.  Bright  was  a  strict  Con- 
formist; and  not  liking  the  ecclesiastical  proceed- 
ings of  his  comrades,  he  returned  to  England  in  the 
succeeding  summer.f  Smith  was  a  Separatist ;  and 
since  these  Puritans  were  not  yet  "Come-outers," 
they  were  shy  of  him,  so  that  in  landing  he  went 
to  NantasketjJ  where  we  shall  meet  him  again. 
The  remaining  two  were  Mr.  Higginson  and  Mr. 
Skelton;  the  first  of  Leicestershire,  the  other  of 
Lincolnshire.!  They  were  both  ardent  Puritans, 
who  had  held  livings  in  the  Church  of  England, 
and  been  silenced  for  non-conformity.|l  On  receiv- 
ing an  invitation  to  accompany  this  expedition, 
they  had  "esteemed  it  a  call  from  heaven,"  and 
joyfully  assented.f  "Both  of  these  men,"  says 
Cotton  Mather,  "were  eminent  for  learning  and 
virtue ;  and  being  thus  in  a  sense  driven  out  of 
England,  they  sought  graves  on  the  American 
strand,  whereon  the  epitaph  might  be  inscribed 
that  Avas  on  Scipio's :  Ingrata  patria,  ne  mortui 
quidem   hahebis  ossa.''"-'"      But  unhke   the  ill-used 

*  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  293.     Mather's  Magnalia. 
t  Higginson's  New  England  Plantation.     Palfrey. 
X  Bradford,  p.  263.     Palfrey,  yoI.  1,  p.  294. 
§  Mather's  Magnalia. 

II  Ibid.,  vol.  1,  p.  68.     Palfrey,  vol.  1,  pp.  294.  295. 
V  Hutchinson's  Coll.,  24,  25.     Hubbard,  Bancroft. 
»*  Mather's  Magnalia,   ut  antea.     ''Ungrateful  country  of  my 
birth,  thou  shall  not  possess  even  my  lifeless  bones." 


"FAREWELL,  DEAR  ENGLAND."      265 

pagan,  they  had  no  taunts  for  their  erring  country, 
"  We  will  not  say,"  cried  Francis  Higginson,  as  he 
stood  on  deck  off  the  Isle  of  Wight,  and  looked 
back  on  the  receding  shores  of  the  fast-anchored 
island  —  "We  will  not  say.  Farewell,  Babylon, 
Farewell,  Kome!  but.  Farewell,  dear  England!"* 

"  England  did  not  regret  the  departure  of  these 
Christian  heroes,  because  she  did  not  know  her  best 
men.  What  nation  does  ?  To  materialists  and  pol- 
iticians, these  Pilgrims  seemed  to  be  visionaries 
and  idealists ;  impracticable,  and  in  the  way.  Yet 
this  class  is  ahvays  the  life  of  a  nation.  We  can 
look  back  upon  them,  and  surfeit  them  with  praise; 
but  we  cannot  easily  see  their  mates  walking  amongst 
us,  treading  our  own  sidewalks,  and  so  learn  to  cher- 
ish, and  not  kill  the  prophets."t 

Higginson,  Skelton,  and  their  future  parishion- 
ers, landed  at  Salem  "  in  the  last  daj's  of  June."| 
Their  friends  already  on  the  spot  gave  them  a 
hearty  pioneer  welcome.  Higginson  employed  his 
first  leisure  moments  in  writing  home  a  transcript 
of  the  situation  :  "  When  we  came  first  to  Naum- 
keag,  we  found  about  half  a  score  of  cottages,  and 
a  fair  house  built  for  the  governor.  We  found  also 
abundance  of  corn  planted  by  those  here,  very  good 
and  well-liking.  The  two  hundred  passengers  whom 
we  brought  were,  by  common  consent  of  the  old 
planters,  combined  together  into  one  body  politic, 

•»  Mather's  Magnalia,  vol.  1,  p.  7-4.     Uhden,  pp.  63,  64. 

t  Elliot,  Tol.  1,  p.  150. 

X  They  landed  on  the  24:th  of  June,  1629.    Uhden,  Hutchinson. 

Pilfffini  Father?.  j.^ 


26o  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

under  the  same  governor.  There  are  in  all  of  us, 
both  old  and  neAV  planters,  about  three  hundred ; 
whereof  two  hundred  are  planted  at  Naumkeag, 
now  called  Salem,  and  the  rest  have  settled  at  Mas- 
sachusetts Bay,  beginning  to  build  a  town  there, 
which  w^e  call  Charlestown.  But  that  which  is  our 
greatest  comfort,  and  our  means  of  defence  above 
all  others,  is,  that  we  have  here  the  true  religion 
and  holy  ordinances  of  Almighty  God  taught 
amongst  us.  Thanks  be  to  God,  we  have  here 
plenty  of  preaching  and  diligent  catechizing,  with 
strict  and  careful  exercise  and  good  and  commend- 
able order  to  bring  our  people  into  a  Christian 
conversation  with  those  with  whom  we  have  to  do. 
wdthal.  And  thus  we  doubt  not  but  God  will  be 
with  us  ;  and  if  God  be  with  us,  who  can  be  against 
us  i  ■• 

On  their  arrival  at  Salem,  these  Massachusetts 
Pilgrims  found  no  church.  It  was  their  first  care 
to  erect  one  ;  and  in  the  prosecution  of  this  work, 
they  had  recourse  to  the  devout  Plymouth  colonists, 
their  brothers  in  the  faith.  Cordial  greetings  had 
already  been  exchanged  between  these  sister  colo- 
nies. About  the  time  of  the  arrival  of  Higginson, 
"  an  infection  had  spread  among  the  northern  pio- 
neers, of  which  many  died ;  some  of  the  scurvy,  oth- 
ers of  a  hectic  fever."t  Endicott  had  sent  a  mis- 
sive to  Plymouth  at  this  time,  requesting  medical 
aid,  as  he  had  no  leech  with  him.     Bradford  imme- 

*  Higginson's  New  England  Plantation,  pp.  123,  124. 
t  Bradford,  pp.  2G3,  2r,4. 


"FAEEY/ELL,  DEAR  ENGLAND."       267 

diately  sent  Thomas  Fuller,  physician  to  his  planta- 
tion, and  the  first  in  New  England — for  he  was  a 
comer  in  the  "Mayflower" — to  the  relief  of  the 
Salem  sufferers,  and  armed  him  with  an  affection- 
ate letter  of  condolence  and  Christian  s^'mpathy." 

These  lines,  and  the  prompt  despatch  of  the 
surgeon,  Endicott  thus  acknowledged : 

"  Eight  Worthy  Sir — It  is  a  thing  not  usual 
that  servants  to  one  Master  and  of  the  same  house- 
hold should  be  strangers  ;  I  assure  you,  I  desire  it 
not ;  nay,  to  speak  more  plainly,  I  cannot  be  so  to 
you.  God's  people  are  all  marked  with  one  and  the 
same  mark  and  sealed  with  one  and  the  same  seal, 
and  have,  in  the  main,  one  and  the  same  heart, 
guided  by  one  and  the  same  Sj^irit  of  truth ;  and 
where  this  is,  there  can  be  no  discord ;  nay,  here 
must  needs  be  sweet  harmony.  And  the  same 
request,  with  you,  I  make  unto  the  Lord — that  we 
may,  as  Christian  brethren,  be  united  by  a  heav- 
enly and  unfeigned  love,  bending  all  our  hearts  and 
forces  in  furthering  a  work  beyond  our  unaided 
strength,  with  reverence  and  fear,  fastening  our 
eyes  always  on  Him  that  is  able  to  direct  and  pros- 
per all  our  ways. 

"  I  acknowledge  myself  much  bound  to  you  for 
3'our  kind  love  and  care  in  sending  Mr.  Fuller 
among  us,  and  rejoice  much  that  I  am  by  him  sat- 
isfied touching  your  judgments  of  the  outward  form 
of  God's  worship.  It  is,  so  far  as  I  can  gather,  no 
other  than  is  warranted  by  the  evidence  of  truth, 
*  Bradford,  pp.  263,  264. 


268  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

and  the  same  wliicli  I  have  professed  and  main- 
tained ever  since  the  Lord  in  mercy  revealed  him- 
self to  me  ;  being  far  from  the  common  report  that 
hath  been  spread  of  you  touching  this  particular.* 
But  God's  children  must  not  look  for  less  here  be- 
low than  ill-report  and  slanderous  gibes  ;  and  't  is  a 
great  mercy  that  he  strengthens  them  to  go  through 
with  it.  I  shall  not  need,  at  this  time,  to  be  tedious 
unto  you,  for,  God  willing,  I  purpose  to  see  your 
face  shortly.  In  the  mean  time,  I  humbly  take  my 
leave  of  you,  committing  you  to  the  Lord's  blessed 
protection  and  rest. 

"  Your  assured  Friend, 

"JO.  ENDICOTT. 

"Natjmkeag,  May  11,  lG29."t 

The  chain  of  friendship  thus  early  welded  had 
an  additional  link  added  to  it  when  the  Leyden 
exiles,  borne  to  America  in  company  with  Higgin- 
son  and  Skelton,  landed  from  the  same  flotilla,  and 
pushed  from  Salem  on  to  Plymouth.  Bradford,  in 
reciting  this  incident,  says  finely,  "  Their  long  stay 
and  keeping  back  was  recompensed  by  the  Lord  to 
their  friends  here  with  a  double  blessing,  in  that 
they  not  only  enjoyed  them  now  beyond  their  late 
expectation,  but  with  them  many  more  godly  friends 
and  Christian  brothers,  as  the  beginning  of  a  larger 
harvest  unto  the  Lord,  in  the  increase  of  his  church- 
es and  people  in  these  waste  parts,  to  the  admira- 

*  In  allusion  to  the  widespread  charge  of  Bro^\^lism,  and  big- 
oted exclusion  of  all  other  sects  from  Christian  fellowship, 
t  Bradford,  pp.  261,  265. 


"FAREWELL,  DEAR  ENGLAND."       269 

tion  of  many  and  the  wonder  of  the  world  ;  and  that 
here  sliould  be  a  resting-place  for  so  many  of  God's 
children,  when  so  sharp  a  scourge  came  upon  their 
own  land.  But  it  Avas  the  Lord's  doing,  and  it 
ought  to  be  marvellous  in  our  eyes."'^ 

Higginson  and  Endicott  had  reached  Salem  in 
the  latter  part  of  June,  1629.  Some  twenty  days 
later,  Endicott  "  set  apart  a  solemn  day  of  humilia- 
tion for  the  foundation  of  a  church  and  the  choice 
of  a  pastor  and  a  teacher."t  The  elder  Pilgrims  at 
Plymouth  were  invited  to  be  present,  and  lend  their 
countenance  to  the  unique  ceremony.:}; 

The  20th  of  July  arrived.  The  first  part  of  the 
day  was  spent  in  prayer  and  preaching ;  the  latter 
portion  Avas  devoted  to  the  ecclesiastical  election.§ 
"  It  was  after  this  manner,"  says  Gott — who  had 
come  over  with  Endicott,  and  was  afterwards  a  dea- 
con in  the  Salem  church — in  a  letter  to  Bradford 
rehearsing  the  proceedings  :  "  the  persons  thought 
of,  who  had  been  ministers  in  the  English  Estab- 
lishment, were  questioned  concerning  their  calling 
to  preach.  They  acknowledged  that  there  was  a 
tAvofold  calling,  the  one  inward,  when  the  Lord 
moved  the  heart  of  man  to  take  that  calling  upon 
him,  and  fitted  him  with  gifts  for  it ;  the  other  out- 
ward, and  from  the  people,  when  a  company  of  be- 
lievers are  united  in  a  covenant  to  walk  together 

•-'  Bradford,  p.  245. 

t  Higginsou's  New  Englaud  Plantation.     Gott's  letter  to  Brad- 
ford ;  cited  in  Bradford,  pp.  265,  266. 

X  Talfrcy.  §  Ibid.,  Bradford,  Gott,  etc. 


270  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEKS. 

in  all  the  ways  of  God,  and  all  the  male  members 
are  given  a  free  voice  in  the  choice  of  their  church 
officers.  Now  we,  being  persuaded  that  these  two 
men  were  so  qualified  as  the  apostle  speaks  to  Tim- 
othy, 'A  bishop  must  be  blameless,  sober,  apt  to 
teach,'  we  think  we  may  say,  as  the  eunuch  said 
unto  Philip,  '  What  should  hinder  my  being  bap- 
tized, seeing  there  is  water?'  and  he  believed.  So 
those  servants  of  God,  clearing  all  things  by  their 
answers,  and  being  thus  fitted,  we  saw  no  reason 
why  we  might  not  freely  give  our  voices  for  their 
election.  Therefore  every  fit  member  wrote  in  a 
note  the  name  of  him  whom  the  Lord  moved  him 
to  tliiuk  fit  for  a  pastor;  and  so  likewise  the  name" 
of  him  whom  they  would  have  for  a  teacher.  Mr. 
Skelton  was  chosen  pastor,  and  Mr.  Higginson 
teacher ;  and  they  accepting  the  choice,  Mr.  Hig- 
ginson, with  several  others,  laid  hands  on  Mr.  Skel- 
ton, using  prayer  therewith  ;  after  which  there  was 
an  imposition  of  hands  on  Mr.  Higginson  by  Mr. 
Skelton  and  the  rest."* 

Bradford,  "  and  some  others  with  him,  coming 
by  sea,"  and  being  "hindered  by  cross-winds," 
could  not  reach  Salem  in  the  beginning  of  the  cer- 
emony, but  "  came  into  the  assembly  afterwards, 
and  gave  them  the  riglit  hand  of  fellowship,  wish- 
ing all  prosperity  and  a  blessed  success  unto  such 
good  beginnings."t 

Some    days    after    this    election,    Mr.    Higgin- 

=  Gott's  Letter  to  Bradford. 

j-  Morton's  Memorial,  p.  146.     Hubbard,  Prince. 


"EAREWELL,  DEAR  ENGLAND."       271 

son  drevv^  up  "  A  Confession  of  Faith  and  Cliurch 
Covenant."  Thirty  persons  assented  to  it,  and  a 
self-constituted  church  was  planted  in  the  wilder- 
ness.* This  transaction  has  determined  and  col- 
ored the  whole  religious  constitution  of  New  Eng- 
land. It  was  a  bold  and  aggressive  act.  But  the 
Pilgrims  had  always  objected  to  the  ceremonial  law 
of  the  home  Establishment ;  and  now,  being  in  the 
Western  wilds,  they  felt  free  to  form  their  ecclesi- 
asticism  on  what  thej  conceived  to  be  a  more  au- 
thentic model.  "  In  their  position,  such  words  as 
'Non-conformity'  and  'Separatism'  ceased  to  be 
significant.  It  was  only  important  that  they  should 
conform  to  their  view  of  the  Bible  ;  and  their  deter- 
mination to  do  so  was  not  shaken  by  the  thought 
that  in  doing  so  they  must  separate,  not  in  spirit, 
but  in  discipline  and  usage,  from  a  church  three 
thousand  miles  awa3'."t 

The  New  England  theocracy  was  begotten  of 
these  proceedings.:!:  "The  emigrants,"  remarks 
Bancroft,  "were  not  so  much  a  body  politic  as  a 
church  in  the  wilderness,  with  no  benefactor  around 
them  but  Nature,  no  present  sovereign  but  God. 
An  entire  separation  was  made  between  church 
and  state — at  least  in  theory;  religious  worship 
was  established  on  the  basis  of  the  independence 
of  each  separate  religious  community;   and  these 

*  See  the  Covenant  in  Neale's  History  of  New  England,  vol.  1, 
pp.  141-143.  The  subordinate  church  officers  were  not  chosen  till 
later.     See  Bradford's  Letter-book. 

t  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  298. 

X  Uhden's  New  England  Theocracy. 


272  THE  PILGEIM  FATHERS. 

rigid  Calviuists,  of  whose  rude  intolerance  tlie 
world  had  been  filled  with  malignant  calumnies, 
subscribed  a  covenant  cherishing,  it  is  true,  the 
severest  virtues,  but  wdthout  one  tinge  of  fanati- 
cism. It  was  an  act  of  piety,  not  of  study ;  it  fa- 
vored virtue,  not  superstition  ;  inquiry,  and  not 
submission.  The  communicants  were  enthusiasts, 
but  not  bigots."*^  They  declared  that  "the  Holy 
Scriptures  only  were  to  be  followed,  and  no  man's 
authority,  be  he  Augustine,  TertulHan,  or  even  Cher- 
ubim or  Seraphim. "t 

This  entire  transaction  gave  dissatisfaction  to 
some  at  Salem.  Finally,  John  and  Samuel  Brown, 
"  two  brothers,  the  one  a  merchant,  the  other  a  law- 
yer, both  men  of  parts,  estate,  and  figure  in  the 
settlement,  gathered  a  company  sejparate  from  the 
public  assembl}'.:}: 

Mutual  bickerings  ensued.  A  breach  of  the 
peace  was  threatened-!  Then  Eudicott  interposed. 
He  sent  the  Browns  home  to  England,  and  thereby 
restored  quiet. Ii 

The  brothers  Brown,  on  reaching  England,  car- 
ried a  lusty  impeachment  to  the  archiepiscopal 
throne,  then  occupied  by  Laud.^  The  Massachu- 
setts Company,  alarmed  by  the  clamor,  wrote  let- 
ters of  caution  to  Endicott:  "Beware!  'tis  possi- 

*  Bancroft,  vol.  1 ,  p.  348.  f  Mather's  Magnalia. 

t  Ibid.,  vol.  1,  p.  72. 

§  Ibid..  Morton,  Prince,  Young,  Cbeever. 

II  Young's  Clironicles,  p.  288. 

IT  Mass.  Col.  Kec,  vol.  1,  p.  408. 


"FAEEWELL,  DEAR  ENGLAND."       273 

ble  some  undigested  counsels  have  been  too  sud- 
denly put  in  execution,  which  may  have  ill-con- 
struction with  the  state  here,  and  make  us  obnox- 
ious to  any  adversary;"^  which  shows,  not  that  the 
island  Puritans  did  not  sympathize  with  bluff  Endi- 
cott's  action,  but  that  they  dreaded  lest  it  might 
provoke  a  hostile  government  to  give  their  pet  col- 
ony its  cov,^  de  grace. 

*  Mass.  Col.  Rec,  vol.  1,  p.  408. 


12* 


274  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 


CHAPTEE  XXII. 

THE    AEBELLA. 

"We  will  renew  the  times  of  truth  and  jiistico, 
Condensing  into  a  fair  free  commonwealth, 
Not  rash  eq^uality,  but  equal  rights, 
Proportioned  like  the  columns  of  the  temple, 
Giving  and  taking  strength  recii^rocal, 
And  making  firm  the  whole  with  grace  and  beauty, 
So  that  no  part  could  be  removed  without 
Infringement  of  the  general  harmony." 

Byron's  Bo<je  of  Venice. 

The  success  of  Eudicott  and  the  supplementary 
success  of  the  detachments  despatched  to  reinforce 
him — success  which  at  the  very  outset  had  left  the 
older  settlement  at  Plymouth,  plodding  on  under  a 
heavy  load  of  debt  and  odium,  far  behind — stirred 
English  Puritanism  as  with  the  blast  of  a  trumpet. 
So  intense  was  the  interest  in  the  new  colony, 
throughout  the  realm,  that  a  tract  descriptive  of 
New  England,  written  by  Higginson,  and  sent  over 
to  England,  in  manuscript,  was  printed,  and  ran 
through  three  editions  in  as  many  mouths.'^  In 
every  hamlet,  on  every  street-corner,  eager  groups 
met  and  discussed  the  right  and  the  policy  of  emi- 
gration; and  the  most  scrupulous  consciences  met 
the  query,  "  Is  it  permitted  that  men  fly  from  per- 
secution?" by  responding,  "Yes;  for  persecution 
may  lead  our  posterity  to  abjure  the  truth." 
*  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  p.  350. 


THE  AEBELLA.  275 

Soou  this  stir  had  an  effect.     Some  of  the  pur- 
est, wealthiest,  and  best-educated  meu  in  England 
agreed  to  embark  for  America.    One  thing  only  had 
made  them  hesitate;  the  colonial  government  resided 
in  England,  and  was  only  sifted  into  New-England 
by  delegation.     The  charter  empowered  the  com- 
pany, and  not  the  colonists,  to  transport  persons, 
establish  ordinances,  and  settle  government."     It 
was  a  chrj-salis ;  it  had  the  face  of  a  commercial 
corjooration,  but  was  pregnant  with  the  essence  of 
an  indej)endent  provincial  government.     Like  the 
mermaid,  it  had  a  human  head,  but  its  body  was 
the  body  of  a  fish.     This  puissant  possibility — who 
should  evoke  it  ?     Who  should  utter  the  talismanic 
words  fit  to  set  free  the  hidden  spirit  of  self-govern- 
ment ?     Matthew  Cradock,  the  governor  of  the  com- 
pany, pronounced  the  "  open  sesame."     He  saw,  as 
did  other  sagacious  men,  that  the  residence  of  the 
corj)orate  authority  in  England  embarrassed  emi- 
gration, barred  j)rosj)erity,  and  opened  the  door  to 
discord.     The  colonists  sighed  for  a  real  governor, 
not  one  in  masquerade ;  and  all  began  to  realize 
that    a    government    three    thousand    miles    away 
could  not  successfully  legislate   for    a   settlement 
whose    growing    necessities    came   as  quickly    and 
changed  as  rapidly  as  the  combinations  of  a  kalei- 
doscope. 

So  Cradock,  with  generous  self-abnegation,  him- 
self proposed  the  transfer  of  the  charter  to  such  of 
the  freemen  of  the  company  as  should  themselves 
*  See  the  ipsissima  verba  of  the  charter,  Mass.  Hist.  CoL 


276  THE  PILGEIM  FATHERS. 

inhabit  the  colony"  A  heated  debate  ensued. 
Both  pros  and  cons  had  their  say,  and  the  formers  of 
the  project  strengthened  their  argument  by  pointing 
to  such  men  as  Winthrop,  Saltonstall,  Jolmson,  Dud- 
ley, and  Humphrey,  all  of  -whom  had  recently  bound 
themselves  at  Cambridge  to  sail  for  Massachusetts 
Bay,  accompanied  by  their  families,  provided  the 
colonial  government  should  be  transferred  to  the 

Plantation. t 

This  decided  the  company,  and  a  general  assent 
was  given  to  the  alienation  of  the  patent.]:  Then 
came  an  obstacle.  The  crown  laAvyers  said,  "  It  is 
not  so  nominated  in  the  bond ;  you  have  no  right, 
standing  under  this  corporation  charter  in  London, 
to  transfer  your  power."  Our  fathers  replied : 
"King  Charles  has  granted  us  certain  authority, 
but  our  charter  does  not  bind  us  to  exercise  that 
authority  in  England  ;  locality  is  not  specified.  We 
choose  to  vote  that  emigrants  shall  be  freemen,  and 
to  summon  a  meeting  beyond  the  Atlantic.  You 
say  this  was  not  contemplated ;  but  where  is  it  for- 
bidden? If  you  can  quibble,  so  can  we.  If  we 
have  not  the  right,  we  will  create  it.  In  the  light 
of  our  success  lawyers  may  read  the  reason  and 
hunt  up  a  precedent  fifty  years  hence." 

It  was  thus  that  Puritanism,  strong  in  faith,  bold 
in  emergencies,  met  the  exigencies  and  trod  down 
the  difficulties  of  its  epoch.  "  The  corporation  did 
not  sell  itself — it  emigrated.     The  patent  could  not 

«  Hutchinson's  Hist,  of  Mass.,  vol.  1,  p.  13.     Bancroft,  Gra- 
hame.  f  Ibid.  %  Ibid.     Young's  Chronicles,  p.  88. 


THE  AEBELLA.  277 

he  assigned;  but  the  patentees  could  call  a  legal 
meeting  in  the  metropolis,  or  on  board  ship  in  an 
English  harbor ;  and  why  not  in  the  port  of  Salem 
as  well  as  at  the  Isle  of  Wight  ?  in  a  cabin  or  under 
a  tree  at  Charlestown  as  well  as  at  the  house  of 
Goffe  in  Loudon?" 

Thus  it  was  that  a  unique  and  daring  construc- 
tion transformed  a  trading  company  into  a  munici- 
pality—  a  change  fraught  with  momentous  conse- 
quences. Before  this  decision  all  hesitation  fell. 
The  Cambridge  friends  announced  their  readiness 
to  sail,  and  the  old  authorities  of  the  Company  at 
once  resigned,  in  order  that  their  offices  might  be 
filled  by  the  chief  emigrants.  -  John  Winthrop  was 
elected  governor ;  John  Humphrey  was  appointed 
deputy;  and  these  were  reinforced  by  eighteen  as- 
sistants.! Just  on  the  eve  of  embarkation,  Hum- 
phrey's place  was  supplied  by  Thomas  Dudley,  he 
being  for  a  space  unavoidably  detained  in  England.:}: 
Winthrop  at  once  accepted  the  charge ;  and  when 
he  informed  his  son  of  the  decision,  the  younger 
Winthroj)  replied:  "I  shall  call  that  my  country 
where  I  may  most  glorify  God  and  enjoy  the  presence 
of  my  dearest  friends.  Therefore  herein  I  submit  my- 
self to  God's  will  and  yours,  and  dedicate  myself  to 
Heaven  and  the  Company,  with  the  whole  endeav- 
ors both  of  mind  and  body.  The  motives  for  emi- 
gration are  unimpeachable ;  and  it  cannot  but  be  a 
prosperous  action  which  is  so  well  allowed  by  the 

*  Hutchinson,  Winthrop,  Palfrey,  Bancroft.  t  Ibid. 

J  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  302. 


278  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEKS. 

judgment  of  God's  prophets,  imdertaken  by  so  re- 
ligions and  wise  worthies  in  Israel,  and  indented  to 
God's  glory  in  so  special  a  service."^' 

And  now  preparations  for  an  extensive  emigra- 
tion were  ardentl}'  pushed.  The  finances  of  the 
Company  were  put  on  a  new  basis.  All  contribu- 
tors to  the  fund  were  ijjso  facto  entitled  to  a  share 
in  the  profits  of  the  colonial  trade  and  to  a  grant  of 
Massachusetts  land.t  "  The  outlay  was  distributed 
in  such  proportions  that  it  was  not  burdensome  in 
any  quarter.  The  richer  emigrants  submitted  to  it 
joyfully,  from  public  spirit ;  the  poorer  as  a  panacea 
for  existing  evils."| 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1630,  ten  vessels  were 
ready  to  weigh  anchor.  Richer  than  the  argosies 
of  the  old  Venetian  or  Genoan  merchants,  this  fleet 
was  freighted  with  the  seed  of  a  future  empire ; 
Vfith  the  planters  of  a  renovated  England,  secure  in 
freedom,  firm  in  religion ;  with  the  builders  of  a 
transatlantic  Saxon  state,  bound  to  realize  in  its 
beneficent  order  the  noblest  dreams  of  English 
patriots  and  sages.  Troops  of  ministering  angels 
hovered  round  it  to  ward  ofi'  danger,  and  God's  own 
benediction  sealed  and  sanctified  the  daring  venture. 

Let  us  descend  into  the  little  cabin  of  the  "  Ar- 
bella,"  and  scan  the  faces  and  take  the  hands — if 
we  are  worthy — of  some  of  the  most  famous  person- 
ages of  this  august  Company  of  devout  voyageurs. 
The  cabin  is  long,  and  low,  and  dark.     But  'tis 

■~  Cited  iu  Hutchinson,  in  Winthrop,  vol.  1,  pp.  359,  360,  and 
in  Bancroft.  f  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  310.  J  Ibid. 


THE  ARBELLA.  279 

lighted  now,  somewhat  dingily,  indeed,  yet  still  suffi- 
ciently to  enable  us  to  discern  a  table  covered  with 
maps  and  legal  parchments,  round  which  are  ranged 
a  score  of  deeply-interested  talkers. 

That  tall,  handsome,  gentlemanly  man,  who  sits 
at  the  head  of  the  table,  is  John  Winthrop,  the  new 
governor.  See  what  an  easy  grace  there  is  in  his 
every  movement ;  he  has  the  port  of  one  habituated 
to  command,  yet  he  is  very  gentle  withal.  His  hair 
is  just  touched  with  silver,  and  he  is  in  the  prime  of 
life — just  forty-two,  ripe  and  mellow.  Winthrop  is 
not  a  needy,  sour  adventurer ;  he  comes  of  an  an- 
cient family  long  seated  at  Groton,  in  Suffolk,  where 
he  has  a  property  whose  income  yields  him  six  or 
seven  hundred  pounds  a  year — the  equivalent  of  at 
least  ten  thousand  dollars  now-a-days.  Evidently 
he  quits  England  from  some  higher  motive  than  to 
fatten  his  exchequer.  This  is  he  whom  Cotton 
Mather  terms  the  "  Lycurgus  of  New  England ;" 
"  as  devout  as  Numa,  but  not  liable  to  any  of  his 
heathenish  madnesses ;  a  governor  in  whom  the  ex- 
cellences of  Christianity  made  a  most  imposing  addi- 
tion unto  the  virtues  wherein  even  without  these  he 
would  have  made  a  parallel  for  the  great  men  of 
Greece  and  Rome  wdiom  the  pen  of  Plutarch  has 
eternized."*  A  calm,  unobtrusive,  able  gentleman, 
Winthrop  had  "studied  that  book,  which,  profes- 
sing to  teach  politics,  had  but  three  leaves,  and  on 
each  leaf  but  one  word — moderation."  He  had 
been  initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  state-craft  when 
*  Magnalia,  vol.  1,  p.  107. 


280  THE  PILGKIM  FATHERS. 

a  bo  J,  for  from  his  youth  he  had  moved  in  the  circles 
where  the  highest  questions  of  English  policy  were 
discussed  and  elaborated  by  the  familiar  associates  of 
Whitgift,  and  Bacon,  and  Essex,  and  Cecil  Burleigh.* 

At  the  right  of  Winthrop  and  chatting  pleas- 
antly with  him,  stands  Thomas  Dudley.  He  is  short 
and  thickset  in  stature,  and  stern  in  expression;  a 
man  fit  to  lead  a  forlorn  hope.  Quick  and  irasci- 
ble in  temper,  uncompromising  when  he  esteems 
himself  in  the  riglit,  every  word  he  utters  has  the 
ring  of  authority.  He  is  a  man  who  speaks  bullets. 
His  head  is  grayer  than  Winthrop's,  but  he  is  still 
robust,  and  he  walks  with  a  martial  air  —  and  no 
wonder,  for  he  is  a  soldier.  Thirty  years  before 
he  had  borne  arms  under  Henri  Quatre  in  the  ranks 
of  the  Huguenots,  a  service  which  had  indoctrina- 
ted him  in  the  love  of  civil  and  religious  libertj^jf 
and  he  was  old  enough  to  have  seen  Sir  Philip  Sid- 
ney, heard  Spencer  recite  verses  to  Elizabeth,  and 
lent  a  shrill  voice  to  the  wild  huzza  at  the  defeat  of 
the  Spanish  Armada.]: 

But  who  is  this  that  glides  up  to  Winthrop,  and, 
touching  him  upon  the  shoulder,  speaks  a  word  in 
his  ear?  It  is  John  Humphrey,  "  a  gentleman  of 
special  parts,  of  learning  and  activity,  and  a  godly 
man."§  He  does  not  sail  now,  but  is  here  to  bid 
his  friends  God  speed. 

*  See   Wiuthrop's   Life,   by  E.    C.    Wiuthrop,    Boston,    le6G. 
Mather's  Account,  Hutchinson's  Sketch,  Palfrey,  etc.,  etc. 

t  Palfrey,  vol.  I,  p.  303.  J  Ibid.     Elhot,  Wilson. 

§  Winthrop's  Hist,  of  New  England,  vol.  1,  p  332. 


THE  AKBELLA.  2S1 

See,  j-oiider,  leaning  with  graceful  negligence 
against  the  wainscot  of  the  cabin,  lounges  a  pale, 
thoughtful,  intellectual  young  man,  with  a  fine  head 
and  a  face  whose  expression  is  that  of  lovable  seri- 
ousness. This  is  Isaac  Johnson,  the  wealthiest  of 
the  Pilgrims,  a  land-owner  in  three  counties.*  But 
profoundly  impressed  with  the  importance  of  emi- 
gration, and  aware  of  the  necessity  of  an  example, 
he  has  risen  from  the  lap  of  artificial  and  patrician 
life  and  flung  away  the  softness  of  a  luxurious  home 
to  battle  with  the  rigors  of  a  wilderness.  Like 
Humphrey,  who  now  approaches  to  shake  hands 
with  him,  he  is  a  son-in-law  of  the  earl  of  Lincoln, 
the  head  in  that  day  of  the  now  ducal  house  of  New- 
castle,'!' and  also,  like  his  relative,  he  has  been  the 
familiar  companion  of  the  patriotic  nobles.^ 

Johnson  now  goes  out  as  one  of  Winthrop's  as- 
sistants, as  does  also  Sir  Eichard  Saltonstall,  of 
Halifax,  in  the  West  Kidiug  of  Yorkshire,  a  bounti- 
ful contributor  to  the  finances  of  the  emigration. § 
This  little  man,  whose  keen,  searching  eyes  take  in 
every  thing  without  an  effort,  as  he  sits  quietly  on  the 
left  side  of  the  table,  is  Theophilus  Eaton,  an  emi- 
nent London  merchant,  but  accustomed  to  courts, 
as  he  had  resided  at  Copenhagen  as  English  minis- 
ter to  Denmark.il  That  grave,  sedate  gentleman, 
directly  opposite  Eaton,  is  Lucien  Bradstreet,  son 
of  a  dissenting  minister  in  Lincolnshire,  and  grand- 

«  Mass.  Hist.  Col.     Palfrey,  Prince,  Mather.  f  Ibid. 

t  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  303.  §  Ibid, 

ii  Hume,  Hist.  Eng.     Mather,  Prince. 


282  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

son  of  a  '•'  Suffolk  gentleman  of  fine  estate,"  and  was 
graduated  at  Emanuel  College,  Cambridge.  By  his 
side  sits  William  Yassall,  an  opulent  West  India 
proj^rietor,*  These,  and  some  others  known  to 
fame,  now  stood  clustered  in  the  cabin  of  the  "  Ar- 
bella"— a  little  ship  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  tons 
burdent — forming  one  of  the  grandest  collections  of 
friends  on  any  historic  canvas. 

Nor  were  they  alone.  Many  of  the  settlers 
had  their  families  with  them.:]:  The  enterprise  was 
still  further  hallowed  by  the  unshrinking  devotion 
of  unselfish  women.  These,  inspired  by  piety  and 
love,  gave  up  all  that  is  most  dear  and  most  essen- 
tial to  their  lives,  "security  and  the  comfort  of 
homes  in  England,  to  brave  the  stormy,  frightful 
sea,  to  land  on  these  bleak,  wild  shores,  to  front  the 
miseries  and  trials  of  pioneer  life,  and  to  sink  into 
untimely  graves,  as  so  many  did.  These  were  the 
martyrs  who  laid  down  their  lives  for  freedom 
and  for  us;  to  them,  therefore,  let  us  uncover  our 
heads."§ 

' '  By  fairy  hands  their  knell  is  rung, 
By  forms  unseen  their  dirge  is  sung  ; 
There  Honor  comes,  a  Pilgrim  gray, 
To  bless  the  turf  that  wraps  their  clay ; 
And  Freedom  shall  awhile  repair 
To  dwell,  a  weeping  hermit  there." 

*  Archceologia  Americana,  vol.  3,  47,  et  seq.  From  this  work 
most  of  the  above  facts  have  been  cited. 

f  Formerly  the  "Eagle;"  she  was  a  naval  vessel,  and  carried 
twenty-eight  guns.  She  had  been  recently  bought  by  the  Compa- 
nj-.     Palfrey.  J  AVinthrop's  Hist,  of  New  England. 

§  Elliot,  vol.  2,  pp.  16,  17. 


THE  AEBELLA.  283 

Foremost  among  these  noble  women,  in  posi- 
tion, in  cnlture,  and  in  sacrifice,  stood  the  Lady 
Arbella'^-'  Johnson.  Her  heroism  lias  thrown  a  halo 
of  poetry  around  a  venture  which  needed  no  addi- 
tional ray  to  make  it  bloom  in  immortal  verse.  The 
daughter  of  Earl  Lincoln,  the  idol  of  her  associates, 
she  was  yet  a  Puritan.  Married  to  Isaac  Johnson, 
she  was  indeed  a  liclpmeet,  sharing  in  his  feelings 
and  animating  him  to  loftier  exertions.  When  her 
husband  resolved  to  emigrate,  she  determined  to 
share  his  jaeril,  and  though  ill-fitted  to  brave  the 
rigors  of  an  inclement  wilderness  by  her  delicate 
nature,  she  answered  all  objections  by  saying,  "  God 
will  care  for  me,  and  I  must  do  my  duty,"  An  exile 
voyage  was  her  wedding  tour ;  and  so  touched  were 
the  Pilgrims  by  her  devotion,  that  they  named  their 
vessel  after  her,  the  "  Arbella."t 

Such  was  the  character,  such  the  home  j)osition, 
of  Winthrop  and  his  coadjutors.  Even  the  preju- 
diced and  reluctant  pen  of  that  high  Tory,  Chal- 
mers, though  essayi]ig  a  sneer,  had  half  of  its  curse 
turned  into  a  blessing,  for  he  Avas  comiDelled  to  write, 
"The  principal  planters  of  Massachusetts  were  Eng- 
lish country  gentlemen  of  no  inconsiderable  for- 
tunes ;    of  enlarged  understandings,  improved   by 

^  The  most  common  orthography  is  Arabella,  but  later  WTiters 
ahnost  unanimously  reject  this  spelling,  which  is  founded  on  the 
often  erring  authority  of  Mather  in  the  Magnalia,  and  of  Josselyn, 
and  accept  that  of  John  Winthrop  in  his  Diary,  of  Johnson  in  the 
"  Wonder-working  Providence,"  and  of  Dudley's  Epistles.  All  of 
these  men  were  ijersonally  intimate  with  Mrs.  Johnson,  and  they 
must  have  known  her  name.     See  Winthrop,  p.  1,  note. 

t  Mather,  Winthrop,  Palfrey,  Elliot,  Hutchinson,  etc.,  etc. 


284  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEES. 

liberal  education ;  of  extensive  ambition,  concealed 
under  an  appearance  of  religious  humility."* 

On  the  29th  of  March,  1630,  the  "  Arbella"  sailed 
from  CoAves,  off  the  Isle  of  Wight,  and  speeding 
down  the  channel,  stopped  at  Yarmouth  to  join 
her  consorts,  the  "Talbot,"  the  "Jewel,"  the  "Am- 
brose," and  the  rest.t  Here  the  self-banished  devo- 
tees penned  a  farewell  to  their  brothers  in  the  faith 
who  remained  in  England.  Their  noble  letter  con- 
cludes thus  :  "  Wishing  our  heads  and  hearts  may 
be  as  fountains  of  tears  for  your  everlasting  wel- 
fare, when  we  shall  be  in  our  poor  cottages  in  the 
wilderness,  overshadowed  by  the  spirit  of  supplica- 
tion, through  the  manifold  necessities  and  tribula- 
tions which  may  not  altogether  unexpectedly,  nor, 
we  liojDe,  unprofitably,  befall  us,  Ave  shall  ever  rest 
assured  friends  and  brethren. "f 

This  done,  all  Avas  done ;  then,  in  the  early  days 
of  April,  favored  by  the  breath  of  budding  spring — 
fit  season  in  Avhicli  to  sail — the  flotilla  lifted  anchor 
and  left  Yarmouth,  where  the  feet  of  these  Pilgrims 
pressed  the  soil  of  their  dear  England  for  the  last 
time.§  "  Sadness  Avas  in  their  hearts,  and  tears 
dimmed  their  eyes,  for  they  loved  the  land  of  their 
fathers ;  they  could  not  forget  the  tender  associa- 
tions of  youth,  nor  the  holier  associations  of  man- 
hood, Avheu  leaA'ing  it  forever.      But  '  as  the  hart 

"  Hist,  of  the  Kesult  of  the  American  Colonies,  vol.  1,  p.  58. 
t  Wiuthrop's  Diary. 

t  This  address  is  said  to  have  been  drawn  by  Mr.  White.    Pal- 
frey. §  Elliot. 


THE  AEBELLA.  285 

panletli  for  the  water-brook,'  so  their  souls  longed 
for  Liberty  and  God,  and  they  went  out  full  of 
hope.  With  a  fair  wind  they  passed  the  Needles, 
St.  Albans,  Portland,  Dartmouth,  and  the  Eddy- 
stone,  with  its  fiery  eye,  watching  for  ships  over  the 
broad  sea.  The  Lizard,  and  at  last  the  Scilly  Isl- 
ands disappeared,  went  down  day  by  day  in  the 
blue  distance,  and  were  left  with  the  past,  till,  ou 
Sunda}^  the  11th  of  April,  1G30,  the  little  fleet  stood 
out  bravely  into  the  stormy  Atlantic."* 

*  Elliot, 


286  THE  PILGRIM  FATHEES. 


CHAPTEK   XXIII. 

THE   AEEIVAL. 

"  Here  tlie  architect 
Did  not  with  curious  care  a  pile  erect 
Of  carved  marble  touch,  or  porphyry, 
But  built  for  God  and  hospitality." 

Carew. 

Nine  weeks  the  "Avbella"  tossed  on  the  Atlan- 
tic ;  then  the  lookout  descried  the  New  England 
coast-line,  and  shouted,  "Land  ho!"  "About  four 
in  the  morning,"  was  Winthrop's  entry  in  his  diary 
under  date  of  June  12th,  "we  neared  our  port,  and 
shot  off  two  pieces  of  ordnance.""'"'  A  little  later, 
Endicott  entered  a  shallop  and  was  rowed  out  to 
the  incoming  ship.t  Greeting  the  new  governor 
cordially,  he  at  once  conducted  him  to  Salem,  where 
all  "  supped  on  a  good  venison  pastry." 

Winthrop  found  disease  stalking  among  the  set- 
tlers, and  provisions  nearly  spent ;  but  all  Avere 
hopeful,  though  the  winter  had  been  hard.:}:  The 
stores  he  brought  were  not  unwelcome,  but  these 
were  not  more  heartily  received  than  were  those 
who  brought  them ;  for  pioneer  life  brings  out  hos- 
pitality and  good  fellowship ;  and  besides,  these 
men  had  common  hopes  and  fears,  and  were  united 
in  faith  and  practice. 

*  Winthrop's  Diary,  p.  31.  t  Ibid. 

X  Ibid.,  Palfrey,  Bancroft. 


THE  AEEIVAL.  287 

The  governor  seems  not  to  have  been  quite  sat- 
isfied with  Salem  as  a  definitive  settlement;  for, 
pausing  there  but  a  week  to  recruit  after  the  tedious 
voyage,  he  pushed  on  in  search  of  another  place  to 
"  sit  down."*  Sailing  up  a  bay  "  made  by  a  great 
number  of  islands,  whose  high  0119*8  shoulder  out 
the  sea,"  the  explorers  finally  decided  upon  a  spot 
on  the  banks  of  Charles  river,  and  a  settlement  was 
commenced  where  Cambridge  now  stands.t 

Busy  days  followed.  Land  was  allotted,  hunt- 
ing parties  were  sent  out ;  Indians  were  chatted 
with;  and  thanksgivings  for  the  past  and  prayers 
for  the  future  were  offered.:}:  But,  enfeebled  by 
fevers  and  enervated  by  the  scurvy,  while  the  de- 
ceitful river  and  the  marshy  ground  in  its  vicinity 
bred  contagious  and  miasmal  vapors  to  enshroud 
them  nightly,  the  emigrants  made  little  progress  in 
their  most  important  work,  the  erection  of  a  town. 

Daily  the  sickness  increased,  and  it  haunted 
Salem  as  well  as  infant  Cambridge.  In  August 
there  Avas  a  large  mortality;  but  September  Avas 
the  most  dreary  month.  Francis  Higginsou,  who 
had  been  for  some  time  slowly  wasting  away  with 
a  hectic  fever,  died  in  this  sad  autumn ;§  but  "in 
the  hour  of  his  death  the  future  prosperity  of  New 
England  and  the  coming  glories  of  its  many  churches 
floated  in  cheerful  visions  before  his  eyes."||     Then 

*  Wiuthrop's  Journal,  p.  32. 

■}■  Dudley's  letter  to  the  couutess  of  Lincoln,  cited  in  Hutchin- 
son, l  Hubbard,  Mass.  Col.  Eec,  Archseol.  Am, 
§  Ibid.  II  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  p.  350. 


283  THE   PILGKIM  FATHEES. 

death  struck  another  shinhig  mark.  The  Lady  Ar- 
bella  Johnson's  fragile  frame,  coming  "  from  a  par- 
adise of  plenty  and  pleasure  into  a  wilderness  of 
wants,"*  succumbed  shortly  to  the  dread  epidemic,t 
to  the  infinite  sorrow  of  her  loving  friends.  Her 
death  broke  the  heart  of  her  devoted  husband.  His 
sorrow  was  too  full  for  utterance ;  or  he  might  have 
hymned  it  in  that  verse  of  Dr.  Watts,  so  pregnant 
with  tenderness  and  pathos  : 

"  I  was  all  love,  and  she  was  all  delight ; 
Let  me  run  back  to  seasons  past ; 
Ah !  flowery  days  when  first  she  charmed  my  sight, — 
But  roses  will  not  always  last." 

Isaac  Johnson  survived  the  beautiful  victim  but 

a  few  weeks,.]:  then  he  followed  her  to  immortality 

through  the  grave. 

"He  tried 
To  live  without  her,  liked  it  not,  and  died," 

said  Mather,  quaintly.§  WinthroiD,  through  his 
tears,  wrote  his  assistant's  epitaph :  "  He  was  a 
holy  man  and  wise,  and  died  in  sweet  peace. "|| 

And  now  the  mortality  was  fearful.  Eighty  of 
Endicott's  colonists  had  been  buried  ere  the  coming 
of  Winthrop  ;T  in  the  summer  and  autumn  succeed- 
ing his  arrival  over  two  hundred  died.-^'  Death 
reaped  its  hecatombs  and  battened  on  corpses.  The 
Pilgrims  wailed  out  their  grief  in  God's  ear,  and 

*  Hubbard,  p.  133.  f  Ibid.     Prince,  Winthrop. 

X  Ibid.  §  Magnalia,  vol.  1,  p.  77. 

II  Winthrop,  vol.  1,  p.  34. 

IT  Palfrey,  Bancroft,  Archseol.  Am. 

"*  Ibid.     Mass.  Hist.  Col. 


THE  AEKIVAL.  289 

kept  fasts  and  ajipointed  days  of  humiliation.  But 
He  "who  doeth  all  things  well"  had  his  own  pur- 
pose to  subserve,  and  his  hand  was  not  stayed  from 
smiting  till  the  chill  December  skies  mantled  the 
earth  with  snow.* 

Early  in  September  the  colonists  determined  to 
desert  the  pestilential  river  banks ;  a  few  went  back 
to  Salem,  some  paused  at  Charleston;  others,  led 
by  Winthrop,  planted  themselves  on  that  neck  of 
land  which  is  now  called  Boston. f 

Ere  long  this  peninsula  came  to  be  thought  the 
fittest  site  for  the  erection  of  a  colonial  capital,  and 
the  17tli  of  September,  1630,  was  formally  set  apart 
as  the  date  of  its  settlement.;!:  The  spot  was  then 
called  Shmomif,^  and  it  was  picturesquely  seated  on 
a  surface  which  swelled  into  rising  grounds  of  con- 
siderable height,  which  have  since  become  famous 
as  Copp's  hill,  Fort  hill,  and  Beacon  hill.ll  Rome 
sits  upon  seven  hills;  Boston  is  a  trimountain  city. 

Why  was  it  called  Boston  ?  Because  Boston  in 
England,  a  prominent  town  in  Lincolnshire,  some 
five  score  miles  north  of  London,  had  played  no  in- 
considerable part  in  the  drama  of  this  colonization, 
giving  to  the  enterprise  some  of  its  chiefest  pillars, 
among  others,  Dudley,  and  Bellingham,  and  Lev- 
erett,  and  Coddington.TT  The  grateful  Pilgrims 
thought  that  they  owed  the  old  English  city  a  rec- 

«.  Dudley's  Letter  to  the  Countess  of  Lincoln.     Prince's  Chro- 
nology, f  Winthrop's  Hist,  of  New  England.     Hutchinson. 
i  Ibid.  §  Shawmut,  or  the  Settlement  of  Boston,  p.  2. 
II  Drake's  Hist,  of  Boston.  IT  Ibid.     Elliot. 

PilSiim  Fathers.  13 


290  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEES. 

ognition  and  a  tribute ;  so  they  gave  to  their  capital 
the  familiar  name  of  Boston.^ 

Shawmut  had  an  occupant  previous  to  its  hasty 
adoption  by  the  deserters  from  Cambridge.  WiHiam 
Blackstone,  who  had  come  over  with  Endicott,  found 
himself  cramped  even  in  sparsely-settled  Salem ;  so 
he  pushed  on  to  Shawmut  neck  and  became  sole 
proprietor  of  the  whole  peninsula,  which  was  after- 
wards bought  of  him.  Here  he  lived  ten  years,  and 
saw  the  foundations  of  society  laid.  He  was  an 
eccentric  character ;  and  though  an  ordained  cler- 
gyman of  the  English  church,  he  had  Puritan  pro- 
clivities. As  he  had  been  pinched  at  home  by  con- 
formity laws,  he  had  exiled  himself  that  he  might 
secure  elbow-room  for  his  sentiments.  But  he  loved 
liberty  so  well  that  he  never  would  unite  with  the  New 
England  church.  "  No,  no,"  he  always  replied,  when 
solicited  to  do  so,  "I  came  from  England  because  I 
did  not  like  the  lord-bishops ;  and  I  cannot  join  you, 
because  I  would  not  be  under  the  lord  brethren. "f 

■"*  Drake's  Hist,  of  Boston.     Elliot. 

j-  ''Blackstone  retained  nothing  in  America  of  his  ministerial 
character  but  his  canonical  coat.  He  devoted  himself  to  the  cul- 
tivation of  the  six  or  seven  acres  of  land  which  he  retained  in  his 
possession,  and  planted,  it  is  said,  the  first  orchard  of  apple-trees 
in  New  England.  He  left  Boston  because  he  was  annoyed  by  its 
strict  sectarian  laws.  Banishing  himself  again  to  the  wilderness, 
he  settled  in  a  place  now  called  Cumberland,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Pawtucket  river.  Here  he  built  a  house  in  the  midst  of  a  park, 
planted  an  orchard  near  it,  and  divided  his  time  between  study 
and  labor.  He  called  his  retreat  "  Studj''  Hill,"  and  resided  there 
until  his  death  in  May,  1675. 

"  He  was  a  man  of  a  kind  and  benevolent  heart ;  and  when  he 
went  to  Providence  to  preach,  as  he  did  occasionally,  notwithstand- 


THE  AERIVAL.  291 

The  Pilgrims  went  to  work  in  Boston  with  a 
will.  Winter  impended;  a  shelter  must  be  provi- 
ded against  the  December  sleet  and  the  chilly 
braw.  But  the  task  was  hard;  the  vis  inertice  of 
nature  was  to  be  overcome ;  and,  without  tools, 
carts,  or  experienced  joiners,  all  hands  began  to 
realize  that  the  carpenter  was  not  inferior  to  the 
priest  or  the  poet.* 

Some  few  grew  discouraged.  Of  the  seven  hun- 
dred whom  Winthrop  brought  out,  ninety  went  back 
to  England. t  But  this  gap  was  soon  closed  by  fresh 
arrivals.  Quite  a  fleet  lay  moored  in  Massachusetts 
bay;  from  Beacon  hiU  seventeen  ships  might  have 
been  counted,  all  of  which  came  in  1630 ;:{;  and 
these  had  disgorged  some  fifteen  hundred  earnest, 
devout  emigrants,  "the  best"  that  Britain  could 
produce.§ 

As  a  body,  the  Pilgrims  were  full  of  courage, 
and  their  faith  at  all  times  bubbled  over  into  song 
or  into  prayer.  "We  here  enjoy  God  and  Jesus 
Christ,"  wrote  Winthrop  to  his  wife,  whom  sickness 
had  detained  in  England,  "and  is  not  that  enough  ? 
I  thank  God  I  like  so  well  to  be  here  as  not  to 

ing  his  disagreement  in  opinion  with  Roger  Williams,  he  would 
carry  with  him  some  beautiful  apples  as  a  present  to  the  children, 
who  had  never  seen  such  fruit  before.  Indeed,  the  kind  called 
Yellow  Sweetings  were  first  i^roduced  in  his  orchard  ;  and  the 
older  inhabitants,  who  had  seen  apples  in  England,  had  never  be- 
fore seen  that  sort. '"    Shawmut,  or  the  Settlement  of  Boston,  p.  27. 

*  Elliot,  vol,  1,  p.  152. 

t  Bancroft,  p.  359.     Palfrey,  vol.  1.  p.  313. 

t  Hutchinson,  Prince,  Hubbard. 

§  Ibid.     Charlestown  Records. 


292  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEES. 

repent  coming.  I  would  not  have  altered  my  course, 
though  I  had  foreseen  all  these  afflictions.  I  never 
had  more  content  of  mind."* 

Before  such  a  spirit — the  right  spirit — all  obsta- 
cles were  certain  to  succumb.     It  was  sure  to 

• ' '  sway  the  future, 


While  God  stood  behind  the  shadow, 
Keeping  watch  above  his  own." 

*  Mass,  Col.  Eec,  Bancroft. 


THE   CHAETER  POLITY.  293 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

THE   CHARTEK   POLITY. 

"And  then  we'll  raise,  on  these  wild  shores, 
A  stnicture  of  wise  government,  and  show 
In  our  NeM'  World  a  glorions  spectacle 
Of  social  order." 

Mes.  Hale's  Ormond  Grosvenor. 

The  fundamental  law  of  the  colonies  of  Massa- 
chusetts Bay  was  the  charter,  which  bore  the  crown 
seal.  The  old  parchment  contained  a  permit  and  a 
fiat.  It  gave  the  corporation  the  right  to  enlarge  or 
decrease  its  numbers  at  its  option,  and  to  establish 
the  terms  on  which  new  members  should  be  admit- 
ted to  its  franchises.  It  decreed  that  the  governor 
and  his  assistants  should  be  elected  by  the  suffrages 
of  the  Company  at  large.  Every  freeman,  as  the 
members  of  the  corporation  were  called,  was  enti- 
tled to  vote.* 

On  the  3d  of  August,  1630,  at  Charlestown,  Win- 
tlirop  convened  his  assistants,  and  held  the  first 
court  under  the  transferred  charter.f  It  was  the 
earliest  baby-cry  of  the  provincial  government. 
Administrative  functions  were  at  once  assumed. 
Measures  were  initiated  which  looked  to  the  sup- 
port of  ministers;  the  question  of  wages  was  ad- 
justed; and  an  order  was  issued  for  the  arrest  of 

*  Bancroft,  Story,  Palfrey.     See  the  Charter,  in  Massachusetts 
Hist.  Col.  f  Winthrop,  Hutchinson,  Hubbard. 


294  THE  PILGKIM  FATHERS. 

Thomas  Morton,'*  who,  through  the  carelessness  of 
Allerton,  the  Plymouth  agent,  had.  returned  to  New 
England,  and  once  more  "hied  to  his  old  nest"  at 
Merry-mouut,  only  to  renew  his  godless  pranks.t 

"  Such  was  the  first  colonial  legislation,  and 
such  the  first  legislative  body.  No  heralds,  no 
wigs,  no  cannon,  no  gilding,  were  necessary  to  im- 
pose upon  the  senses  or  give  majesty  and  authority 
to  law." 

Two  months  later,:|:  a  general  assembly  of  the 
freemen  of  the  colony  was  convened  at  Boston.§ 
In  the  Assembly  the  charter  vested  the  fundamen- 
tal legislative  authority.il  It  was  the  colonial  Par- 
liament. At  this  session  more  than  a  hundred 
planters  were  admitted  to  the  franchises  of  the 
corporation;!  and  since  this  accession  increased 
the  preexisting  inconvenience  of  gathering  the 
whole  Company  for  purposes  of  legislation,  the 
freemen  ceded  to  the  governor  and  his  assistants 
the  whole  political  power,  reserving  only  the  right 
to  supply  vacancies.**  The  tenure  of  office  was 
unlimited  ;tt  perhaps  it  was  tacitly  understood  to 
be,  as  in  the  old  English  law,  "  during  good  beha- 
vior"— quamdiu  se  hene  gesserint.  For  a  season  the 
government  was  an  elective  aristocracy.  It  was 
oligarchical,  like  that  of  Venice. 

This  endured  but  little   more  than  a  twelve- 


*  See  chap.  19,  pp.  245  et  seq. 

\  Bradford,  Wiutbrop,  Hubbard.         %  On  the  19tli  of  Oct. 
§  Winthrop,  Hutchinson.  ||  See  the  charter. 

If  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  p.  359.         **  Ibid.        ft  I^i^-'  P-  360. 


THE   CHARTEE  POLITY.  295 

month.  Ill  May,  1631,  the  freemen  met  again, 
"  after  corn  was  set,"  and  revoked  a  part  of  the 
authority  of  which  they  had  been  too  lavish.  The 
government  was  curbed  by  a  reservation  to  the 
commons  of  the  right  to  make  such  annual  changes 
as  the  majority  should  desire.* 

"  At  this  same  time  a  law  was  established  preg- 
nant with  evil,  and  with  good.  '  To  the  end  that 
the  body  of  the  commons  may  be  preserved  of  hon- 
est and  good  men' — so  runs  the  old  text — 'it  is 
ordered  and  agreed  that,  for  the  time  to  come,  no 
man  shall  be  admitted  to  the  freedom  of  this  bodv 

ft/ 

politic  but  such  as  are  members  of  some  of  the 
churches  within  the  corporate  limit.'  This  rule 
stood  unchanged  until  after  the  Restoration.  Thus 
was  the  elective  franchise  narrowed.  The  polity 
was  a  sort  of  theocracy;  God  himself,  speaking 
through  the  lips  of  his  elect,  was  to  govern  his 
people.  An  aristocracy ~was  founded ;  but  not  on 
wealth,  or  blood,  or  rank.  The  servant,  the  bond- 
man, might  be  a  member  of  the  church,  and  there- 
fore a  freeman  of  the  Company.  Other  states  have 
limited  the  possession  of  political  rights  to  the  opu- 
lent, to  freeholders,  to  the  first-born.  The  colonists 
of  Massachusetts,  scrupulously  refusing  to  the  cler- 
gy the  least  shadow  of  political  power,  established 
the  reign  of  the  visible  church,  a  commonwealth  of 
the  chosen  people  in  covenant  with  God."t 

But  we  must  not  let  the  boldness  and  presump- 

*  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  p.  360. 

t  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  pp.  360,  361. 


296  THE  PILGEIM  FATHERS. 

tion  of  this  act  blind  us  to  its  inconsistency  and  its 
evil  tendency.  If  men  might  enjoy  the  franchise 
only  by  uniting  with  the  church,  ambitious  men, 
wicked  men,  might  become  hypocrites,  that  they 
might  get  power.  AVhen  church-membership  be- 
came the  road  to  political  authority,  there  was  dan- 
ger that  audacious  and  unchastened  interlopers 
might  usurp  the  government,  as  they  did  in  Eng- 
land under  Whitgift,  and  Williams,  and  Laud. 

This  law  was  an  inconsistency,  because  it  was  a 
radical  departure  from  the  primal  jDrinciple  of  Mas- 
sachusetts ecclesiasticism,  the  separation  of  church 
and  state,  and  the  complete  independence  of  the 
individual  churches.'-^  Now  it  was  affirmed  that  the 
state  must  unfold  within  the  church.t  Indeed,  a 
kind  of  state  church  was  developed.:];  This  is  evi- 
dent from  two  facts.  The  clergy  were  to  be  sup- 
ported, not  merely  by  the  contributions  of  actual 
church-members,  but  it  was  decreed  that  "  all  who 
are  instructed  in  the  word  of  God  must  contribute 
for  those  by  whom  they  are  taught  in  all  good 
things."§  The  government  was  empowered  to  curb 
ecclesiastical  errorists ;  and  "  if  any  church  should 
grow  schismatical,  rending  itself  from  the  com- 
munion of  other  churches,  or  should  walk  incor- 
rigibly and  obstinately  in  any  corrupt  way,  con- 
trary to  the  word  of  God,  in  such  case  the  civil 

*  Uhden's  New  Eng.   Theocracy,  p.  68.     Dexter's  Congrega- 
tionalism. 

t  Ibid.,  p.  71.  t  Ibid.,  Bancroft 

§  Ibid.     Vide  Cambridge  Platform. 


THE  CHAETEE  POLITY.  297 

magistrate  was  directed  to  put  forth  liis  coercive 
power."* 

Thus  individual  religious  independence,  child  of 
the  Protestant  principle,  was  strangled.  Our  fa- 
thers honestly  erred.  Purity  of  religious  worship 
was  their  goal ;  and  in  order  to  that,  they  desired 
the  unclogged  enjoyment  of  what  they  esteemed  the 
divinely-appointed  means  of  grace.  Their  model 
was  the  Mosaic  code.  They  did  not  remember 
that  God  had  superseded  it  by  a  new  dispensa- 
tion. 

The  Pilgrims  were  wise  and  devout  men,  and 
in  most  respects  they  were  a  century  in  advance  of 
their  generation ;  but  as  a  body,  they  did  not  un- 
derstand the  golden  rule  of  toleration.  Divorcing 
church  and  state  in  theory,  in  practice  they  mar- 
ried them. 

"It  is  folly,"  remarks  an  English  scholar  who 
has  himself  rehearsed  the  story  of  the  Pilgrims, 
"  for  either  British  or  American  encomiasts  to  seek 
to  disguise  this  fact.  It  is  on  record.  All  may 
read  it.  Impartial  history  is  compelled  to  acknowl- 
edge that  very  few,  even  of  the  foremost  thinkers 
and  moralists  of  the  seventeenth  centurj^  had  any 
just  conception  of  that  grand  principle,  the  out- 
growth of  the  NcAv  Testament,  which  acknowledtjes 
God  as  the  sole  Judge  of  human  faith,  and  inter- 
feres with  opinions  or  creeds  only  when  they  run  to 

*  Vide  the  Cambridge  Platform,  1648.  "This  Confession  of 
Faith  belongs,  indeed,  to  a  later  period,  but  it  exjiresses  through- 
out the  principles  of  the  early  colonists  unchanged."  Uhden,  p.  68. 


298  THE  PILGKIM  FATHEES. 

seed  iu  riot,  and  develope  consequences  mimical  to 
social  virtue  and  political  order."* 

But  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  Pilgrims 
erected  a  theocracy,  and  by  conferring  upon  the 
civil  arm  jurisdiction  in  religion,  opened  the  way 
to  unjust  persecution,  it  is  also  true  that  they 
"builded  better  than  they  knew;"  for  the  princi- 
ples they  professed  eventually  forced  their  children 
to  a  broader  platform.  They  secured  the  future. 
They  were  the  acorn;  let  the  nineteenth  century 
be  the  oak. 

"  For  we  doubt  not,  through  the  ages 
One  increasing  pur^Dose  runs  ; 
And  the  thoughts  of  men  are  widened 
With  the  process  of  the  suns." 

»  Wilson's  Pilgrim  Fathers,  pp.  487,  488. 


INCIDENTS.  299 


CHAPTER   XXV. 

INCIDENTS. 

"  He  cometli  unto  you  with  a  tale  which  holdeth 
Children  from  play  and  old  men  from  the  chimney-corner." 

Sir  Philip  Sidney. 

The  life  of  tlie  Pilgrim  Fatliers  in  tliese  first 
years  of  their  settlement  was  full  of  incident.  They 
could  not  assent  to  Solomon's  dictum,  that  "  there 
is  nothing  new  under  the  sun."  Here  they  found 
a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth ;  all  things  were 
strange.  Their  only  acquaintance  in  the  western 
wilds  was  God  ;  and  they  never  wearied  of  investi- 
gation. Their  first  move,  after  thanking  God  for 
preservation  and  a  safe  voyage,  was  to  exjolore. 
They  loved  to  "guess"  out  enigmas.  They  were 
always  analyzing  the  soil,  and  speculating  on  the 
prospects  of  storms,  and  dickering  with  the  Indians. 
From  the  homeliest  and  most  commonplace  circum- 
stances, they  did  not  disdain  to  gather  wisdom  or 
*'  to  point  a  moral  and  adorn  a  tale."  They  had  a 
teachable  spirit,  and  were  ardent  students  in  the 
school  of  nature. 

The  unbroken  forest  especially  possessed  an 
unfading  charm  in  their  eyes.  They  were  fasci- 
nated both  by  its  freedom  and  its  vastness ;  for  in 
England,  whatever  patches  of  wood  existed  were 
enclosed  in  the  parks  of  the  exclusive  nobles,  and  a 


300  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

bitter  code  of  game-laws  barred  all  entrance.  But 
while  a  source  of  pleasure,  it  was  also  often  a  source 
of  anxiety. 

One  pleasant  afternoon  Winthroj)  took  his  gun 
and  strolled  into  the  woods  for  a  short  walk.  He 
lost  his  way,  and  night  overtook  him.  Kindling  a 
fire,  he  prepared  to  "  camp  out."  He  spent  the 
hours  till  dawn  in  walking  up  and  down  and  "sing- 
ing psalms."  Nest  morning  he  reached  home  safely, 
much  to  the  delight  of  his  neighbors,  who  had 
passed  the  entire  night  in  the  forest,  hallooing  and 
shooting  off  guns,  in  the  hope  that  the  lost  governor 
might  hear  them.* 

On  another  occasion  one  of  the  settlers  lost  a 
calf.  Hearing  the  wolves  howl  in  the  night,  he  got 
up  and  shot  ofi'  his  musket  several  times  in  rapid 
succession,  to  frighten  them  away.  The  wind  car- 
ried the  report  to  all  the  settlements ;  every  one 
was  aroused  ;  drums  were  beaten  ;  messengers  were 
despatched  to  spread  the  alarm ;  every  bush  was 
taken  for  an  Indian.  "  But  next  morning  the  calf 
was  found  unharmed,  the  wolves  and  the  colonists 
being  well  frightened.  The  former  had  disap- 
peared, and  the  latter  went  '.merrily  to  breakfast,' 
esteeming  their  alarm  a  good  joke,  and  quaintly 
rallying  one  another  on  the  '  great  fear  that  had 
come  upon  them,  making  all  their  bones  to  shake.'  "f 
But  their  fright  was  not  foolish  ;  it  was  bred  of  cau- 
tion and  a  knowledge  of  their  situation.  They  re- 
membered with  old  Ben  Johnson,  that 

«  Wintliroii's  Journal,  f  Elliott,  vol.  1,  pp.  155,  156. 


INCIDENTS.  301 

"  A  valiant  man 
Ouglit  not  to  undergo  or  tempt  a  danger, 
But  worthily,  and  by  selected  ways ; 
He  undertakes  by  reason,  not  by  chance. " 

At  Plymouth  the  Pilgrims  had  been  longer  in 
America,  and  the  first  flush  of  initial  excitement 
had  abated.  The  jDulse-beat  there  was  calmer,  for 
they  were  more  learned  in  woodcraft  than  the  later 
comers.  Yet  even  at  Plymouth  the  jog-trot  of  events 
was  occasionally  broken.  There  is  a  traditionary 
anecdote,  illustrative  of  the  danger  of  one  gentle- 
man's commissioning  au other  to  do  his  wooing  for 
him,  which  doubtless  created  an  unwonted  stir  in 
the  sedate  old  town  at  the  time.  It  seems  that 
Miles  Standish  had  buried  his  wife  some  time  after 
his  arrival  in  New  England ;  on  which  he  thus  com- 
muned with  himself : 

"  ''Tis  not  good  for  a  man  to  be  alone,  say  the  Scriptures. 
This  I  have  said  before  ;  and  again  and  again  I  repeat  it ; 
Every  hour  in  the  day  I  think  it,  and  feel  it,  and  say  it. 
Since  Kose  Standish  died,  my  life  has  been  weary  and  dreary. 
Sick  at  heart  have  I  been,  beyond  the  healing  of  friendship.'" 

So  Standish  resolved  to  wed  again.  He  had 
already  taken  a  fancy  to  Miss  Priscilla  Mullins, 
one  of  the  sweetest  of  the  Puritan  maidens;  and 
he  said: 

"  '  Oft  in  my  lonely  hours  have  I  thought  of  this  maiden,  Priscilla. 
She  is  alone  in  the  world.  Her  father,  and  mother,  and  brother, 
Died  in  the  winter  together.  I  saw  her  going  and  coming. 
Now  to  the  grave  of  the  dead,  and  now  to  the  bed  of  the  dying; 
Patient,  courageous,  and  strong,  and  said  to  myself,  that  if  ever 
There  were  angels  on  earth,  as  there  are  angels  in  heaven, 


302  THE  PILGEIM  FATHERS. 

Two  have  I  seen  and  known  ;  and  the  angel  whose  name  is  Pris- 

cilla 
Holds  in  my  desolate  life  the  place  which  the  other  abandoned.' 

Therefore  the  captain  resolved  to  woo  her.     But, 
"Being  a  coward  in  this,  though  valiant  enough  for  the  most  part," 

he  decided  to  do  it  by  proxy ;  so  he  selected  John 
Alden,  his  secretary — 

"  Fair-haired,  azure-eyed,  with  delicate  Saxon  complexion, 
Having  the  dew  of  youth,  and  the  beauty  thereof,  as  the  cap- 
tives 
Whom  St.  Gregory  saw,  and  exclaimed,  'Not  Angles,  but  angels.' 
Youngest  of  all  was  he  of  the  men  who  came  in  the  May- 
flower." 

"  John,"  said  he, 

"  '  Go  to  the  damsel  Priscilla,  the  loveliest  maiden  of  Plymouth  ; 

Say  that  the  blunt  old  captain,  a  man  not  of  words,  but  of  ac- 
tions, 

Offers  his  hand  and  heart — the  hand  and  heart  of  a  soldier. 

You,  who  are  bred  as  a  scholar,  can  say  it  in  elegant  language. 

Such  as  you  read  in  your  books  of  the  pleadings  and  wooings  of 
lovers ; 

■Such  as  you  think  best  adapted  to  win  the  heart  of  a  maiden.' " 

Now  it  happened  that  poor  John  Alden  was 
himself  enamoured  of  the  lovely  Puritan  maiden, 
and  he  listened  to  this  request  aghast.  But  Stan- 
dish,  unaware  of  this  fact,  lu'ged  the  unwelcome 
mission  on  his  blushing  scribe,  and  demanded  his 
acceptance  of  it  in  the  name  of  friendship.  Alden 
determined  to  perform  the  mission,  and  to  do  it 
faithfully;  so  he  hied  him  through  the  forest  to 
Priscilla's  dwelling.  Entering  without  ado,  he  at 
once  broached  the  subject,  and  flung  forth  a  glow- 
ing record  of  his  master's  virtues.     Priscilla  heard 


INCIDENTS.  303 

him  awhile  in  ominous  silence,  and  then  interrupted 
him  by  this  query : 

" '  If  the  great  captain  of  Plymoutli  is  so  very  eager  to  wed  me, 
Why  does  he  not  come  himself,  and  take  the  trouble  to  woo  me? 
K  I  am  not  worth  the  wooing,  I  surely  am  not  worth  the  win- 


ning.'" 


Alden  tried  to  explain  and  smooth  the  matter ; 

'But  as  he  warmed  and  glowed  in  his  simple  and  eloquent  lan- 
guage, 
Quite  forgetful  of  self,  and  full  of  praise  of  his  rival, 
Archly  the  maiden  smiled,  and,  with  eyes   overrunning  with 

laughter, 
Said  in  a  tremulous  voice,  '  Why  do  n't  you  speak  for  yourself, 
John?'" 

The  bewildered  but  happy  secretary  at  once 
took  the  hint.  Returning  to  Standish,  he  reported 
his  failure.  Then  he  did  "  speak  for  himself,"  and 
to  such  purpose  that  he  was  soon  married.  There 
were  no  horses  in  the  wilderness ;  so  after  the  nup- 
tials, 

"Alden,  the  thoughtful,  the  careful,  so  happy,  so  proiid  of  Pris- 

cilla, 
Brought  out  a  snow-white  bull,  obeying  the  hand  of  his  master, 
Led  by  a  cord  that  was  tied  to  an  iron  ring  in  its  nosti'ils, 
Covered  with  crimson  cloth,  and  a  cushion  placed  for  a  saddle. 
She  should  not  walk,  he  said,  through  the  dust  and  heat  of  the 

noonday ; 
Nay,  she  should  ride  like  a  queen,  not  plod  along  like  a  peasant. 
Somewhat  alarmed  at  first,  but  reassured  by  the  others, 
Placing  her  hand  on  the  cushion,  her  foot  in  the  hand  of  her 

husband, 
Gayly,  with  joyous  laugh,  Priscilla  mounted  her  palfrey. 
Like  a  picture  it  seemed  of  the  primitive,  pastoral  ages, 
Fresh  with  the  youth  of  the  world,  and  recalling  Eebecca  and 

Isaac ; 
Old,  and  yet  ever  new,  and  simple  and  beautiful  always, 


304  THE  PILGEIM  FATHERS. 

Love  immortal  and  young,  in  the  endless  succession  of  lovers. 
So  through  the  Plymouth  woods  passed  onward  the  bridal  pro- 
cession."* 

But  sometimes  events  of  ruder  and  less  joyous 
significance  came  to  stir  a  ripple  on  the  placid  sea 
of  frontier  life.  Even  among  these  Pilgrims  there 
were  laws  to  be  enforced  and  bad  men  to  be  curbed. 
Thomas  Morton  was  one.  This  irrepressible  tor- 
ment was  once  more  engaged  at  "  Merr j  Mount" 
in  selling  guns  and  "fire-water"  to  the  Indians; 
nor  did  he  hesitate  to  "  shoot  hail-shot  into  them," 
because  they  refused  to  bring  him  a  canoe  in  Avhich 
to  cross  the  river.  He  was  ai^prehended  on  their 
complaint,  and  because  he  "  discredited  the  whites." 
His  den  was  burned  in  the  presence  of  the  natives 
whom  he  had  maltreated ;  and  he  himself,  after  be- 
ing for  a  while  "  set  in  the  bilboes,"  was  sent  once 
more  a  prisoner  to  England. t 

This  occurred  at  Boston.  At  Plymouth  a  still 
more  emphatic  and  sombre  scene  was  enacted. 
John  Billingtou,  always  a  pest,  of  whom  Bradford 
had  said,  "  He  is  a  knave,  and  so  will  live  and  die,":j: 
was  convicted  of  wilful  murder.  Conference  was 
held  with  the  most  judicious  men  of  Massachusetts 
Bay  as  to  the  disposition  to  be  made  of  him.  Win- 
throp  and  the  rest  favored  his  execution,  basing  the 
right  to  inflict  that  penalty,  not  so  much  on  the  Eng- 
lish common  law  as  on  the  code  of  Moses:  "Whoso 

*  Longfellow's  Courtship  of  Miles  Standish.   See,  also,  Banvard 
and  Thatcher. 

f  Elliot,  vol.  1,  p.  154.     Winthrop,  Bradford,  Prince. 
X  Ibid.,  p.  68.     Banvard,  Thatcher,  Morton. 


INCIDENTS.  305 

slieclcleth  man's  blood,  by  man  shall  Lis  blood  be 
shed.""  Under  this  decision  Billington  was  hung; 
and  this  was  the  first  capital  punishment  ever  in- 
flicted in  New  England. 

These  magisterial  rigors  did  not  suflSce  to  quell 
the  evil-doers;  for  shortly  afterwards  Philip  Ead- 
cliff  ventured  to  revile  tlie  "]3owers  that  be;"  nor 
did  he  scruple  to  asperse  the  colonial  churches. 
For  this  misdemeanor  he  was  condemned  to  lose 
his  ears.  This  did  not  subdue  him ;  so  he  was 
whipped  and  banished.  All  which  processes  did 
not  serve  to  increase  his  affection  for  the  Pilgrims. 
Landing  in  England,  he  did  them  what  mischief  he 
could.t 

Then  came  another  rogue.  This  was  Sir  Chris- 
topher Gardiner,  "  one  of  those  mysterious  visitors 
whose  appearance  in  remote  settlements  so  easily 
stimulates  the  imaginations  of  men  of  more  staid 
habits  and  better  mutual  acquaintance.":]:  It  was 
not  known  who  he  was,  nor  whence  he  came,  nor 
why.  It  has  been  conjectured  that  he  was  a  spy 
of  Sir  Ferdinand  Gorges  and  other  foes  of  Puritan- 
ism in  England.§  Bradford  says,  "  He  came  into 
these  parts  on  pretence  of  forsaking  the  world,  and 
to  live  a  private  life  in  a  godly  course.  He  had 
been  a  great  traveller,  was  a  Knight  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre,  and  a  relative  of  that  Gardiner  who  was 
so  bitter  a  persecutor  under  "  Bloody  Mary."    Now 

*  Elliott,  vol.  1,  p.  68.     Banvard,  Thatcher,  Morton.     This  was 
in  1630.  -j-  Winthrop's  Journal. 

J  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  329.  §  Ibid. 


-306  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

he  avowed  himself  penitent  for  his  past  ill  life, 
offered  to  join  the  churches  here,  and  said  he  was 
willing  to  apply  himself  to  any  employment."" 

Soon,  however,  he  fell  under  suspicion  at  Mas- 
sachusetts Bay.  He  was  suspected  of  living  in 
concubinage  with  "  a  comely  young  woman  whom 
he  had  brought  over  with  him,"  and  whom  he 
called  his  cousin,  "after  the  Italian  manner."  Be- 
ing cited  to  answer  these  charges,  he  decamped. 
Soon  Winthrop  received  letters  which  showed  that 
this  "knight"  had  "two  wives  living  in  London."t 
An  order  was  issued  for  his  apprehension.  Event- 
ually he  took  refuge  at  Plymouth.  Here  he  chanced 
to  drop  his  diary:  and  in  this  was  found  a  "  memo- 
rial showing  what  day  he  was  reconciled  to  the 
pope  and  the  chiirch  of  Rome,  and  in  what  univer- 
sity he  took  his  scapula  and  such  and  such  de- 
grees."!  So  Bradford  sent  the  unmasked  Jesuit, 
with  the  unfortunate  diary,  to  Winthrop  ;§  who,  in 
his  turn,  presently  sent  him  back  "  to  the  two  wives 
in  Old  England,  that  they  might  search  him  fur- 
ther."ll  On  reaching  the  island,  he  was  not  re- 
strained of  his  liberty,  but  roaming  at  large,  soon 
found  out  the  enemies  of  the  colonies ;  and  he,  with 
Eadcliff,  actively  engaged  in  intrigues  to  its  preju- 
dice.lF 

"  So  difficult  was  it,"  observes  Elliot,  "  to  get 
away  from  the  wickedness  of  Satan,  who,  even  in  this 

*  Bradford,  p.  294.  t  Winthrop's  Journal, 

t  Bradford,  p.  295.  §  Ibid. 

II  Winthrop's  Journal.  IT  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  330. 


INCIDENTS.  307 

virgin  land,  and  among  these  godly  Puritans,  would 
thrust  himself  in  where  his  company  was  in  no  way 
wanted.  But  now  one  more  rascal  was  exported 
and  sent  home,  where,  with  his  two  wives  and  his 
'  Italian  manner,'  and  his  popery,  he  would  not  poi- 
son Massachusetts."* 

Yet,  spite  of  these  isolated  instances  of  riot, 
insubordination,  and  distvu'bance,  the  Puritan  set- 
tlements were  in  the  main  models  of  industry,  sobri- 
ety, and  good  order.  "I  have  read,"  says  Cotton 
Mather,  "  a  printed  sermon  which  was  preached 
before  '  both  Houses  of  Parliament,  the  lord-mayor 
and  aldermen  of  London,  and  the  Westminster  as- 
sembly of  divines,'  the  greatest  audience  then  in  the 
world;  and  in  that  sermon  the  preacher  had  this 
passage  :  '  I  have  lived  in  a  country  where,  in  seven 
years,  I  never  saw  a  beggar,  nor  heard  an  oath,  nor 
looked  iipon  a  drunkard.'  That  Utopia  was  New 
Engiand."t  Mather  adds  sadly :  "  But  they  wdio 
go  hence  now  must  tell  another  stor3^":j: 

What  was  the  secret  of  such  prosperity  ?  When 
Demosthenes  was  asked  what  it  was  that  so  long 
preserved  Athens  in  a  flourishing  state,  he  replied, 
"  The  orators  are  men  of  learning  and  wisdom  ;  the 
magistrates  do  justice ;  the  citizens  are  quiet,  and 
the  laws  are  kept  among  them  all."§  'T  was  a  glo- 
rious record  for  the  immortal  city,  and  the  same 
secret  gave  the  settlements  of  the  Pilgrim  fathers 
substantial  peace  and  happy  order. 

*  Elliot,  vol.  1,  p.  155.  t  Magualia,  vol.  1,  p.  103. 

X  Ibid.,  p.  97.  §  Orations,  N.  Y.,  1855. 


308  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEKS. 

Wiutlirop  relates  that  once  "at  Watertown  there 
was,  ill  the  view  of  divers  witnesses,  a  great  combat 
betwixt  a  mouse  and  a  snake;  and,  after  a  long 
fight,  the  mouse  prevailed  and  killed  the  snake. 
The  pastor  of  Boston,  Mr.  Wilson,  a  very  sincere, 
holy  man,  hearing  of  it,  gave  this  interpretation: 
the  mouse  was  a  poor  contemptible  people,  brought 
by  God  hither,  who  should  overcome  Satan  here, 
and  disjDossess  him  of  his  kingdom.  Upon  the  same 
occasion  he  added :  '  I  dreamed  before  coming  to 
this  country,  that  I  was  here  and  saw  a  church  rise 
out  of  the  earth,  which  gradually  expanded  into  a 
colossal  shape' — as  pray  God  ours  may."* 

Winthrop's  prayer  seemed  even  then  in  the  way 
to  exact  fulfilment.  Many  earnest,  devoted  Pilgrims, 
continued  to  pour  into  New  England.  In  1631, 
Eliot,  the  famous  apostle  to  the  Indians,  landed 
at  Salem.t  Full  of  love  and  full  of  hope,  he  soon 
entered  upon  those  labors  which  have  immortalized 
his  name  on  earth,  and  enrolled  it  on  the  heavenly 
records  as  a  teacher  and  benefactor  of  his  race.| 

*  Winthrop's  Hist.,  vol.  1,  p.  97.  f  Ibid.,  p.  76. 

f  Eliot  spent  the  first  years  of  his  transatlantic  life  as  a  preacher 
at  Koxbury.  Here  he  was  engaged  with  Weld  and  Richard  Mather 
in  compiling  the  first  book  piiblished  in  New  England  —  "The 
Psalms  in  Metre" — which  appeared  in  1640.  In  1645,  he  became 
deejDly  interested  in  the  work  of  evangelizing  the  Indians,  "  those 
ruins  of  mankind."  Into  this  labor  he  threw  his  whole  heart ;  and 
he  never  relinquished  it  until  God  called  him  home ;  for  he  be- 
lieved with  the  psalmist,  that  Jehovah  was  perpetually  saying, 
"  Ask  of  me,  and  I  will  give  thee  the  heathen  for  thine  inheritance." 

Going  into  the  wilderness,  he  preached  his  first  Indian  sermon 
in  October,  1646,  in  a  wigwam  at  Nonantiim,  near  Watertown.  He 
had  already  familiarized  himself  with  the  aboriginal  languages ; 


INCIDENTS.  309 

A  little  earlier,  Koger  Williams  was  wafted  to  these 
shores,  Avhere,  in  his  May  of  youth,  he  found  a  glo- 
rious destiny  awaited  him.* 

and  since  the  New  England  tribes— loosely  estimated  at  a  xmited 
membership  of  forty  thoiisand — were  a  part  of  the  Algonquin  race, 
■whose  tongues  were  similar,  this  acquisition  was  not  as  difficult  as 
it  might  seem.  Eliot  had  the  happiness  to  witness  several  con- 
versions as  the  result  of  his  first  essay ;  and  from  that  moment 
he  worked  on  with  a  resolution  and  self-abnegation  above  all 
earthly  praise.  The  "Apostle,"  as  he  soon  came  to  be  called,  at 
once  commenced  several  translations.  Two  catechisms  were  done 
into  the  Indian  dialects.  A  primer,  the  Psalms,  and  Baxter's  Call, 
followed  ;  and  finally,  an  Indian  Bible,  a  marvellous  monument  of 
patience,  industry,  and  faith,  appeared  in  1663.  Of  course,  this 
work  necessitated  money.  Eliot  appealed  for  aid.  The  English 
Parliament  granted,  in  1619,  a  special  sum  for  the  promotion  of  the 
gospel  among  the  aborigines.  Large  collections  were  made  through- 
out England  for  the  same  purpose  ;  and  even  infant  Boston  con- 
tributed twenty-five  hundi'ed  dollars  in  its  poverty.  The  zeal  of 
Eliot  and  the  funds  of  the  godly  were  not  in  vain  expended.  A 
number  of  Indians  were  hopefully  converted,  and  these  were  colo- 
nized into  separate  towns.  The  chief  seat  of  the  "praying  Indi- 
ans" was  Natick,  settled  by  them  in  1651.  There  Eliot  erected 
his  headquarters  ;  and  he  gave  his  converts  "  the  same  advice  as 
to  government  that  Jethro  gave  to  Moses  ;  so  they  assembled,  and 
chose  their  rulers  of  hundreds,  fifties,  and  tens,  and  proclaimed, 
'that  God  should  riile  over  them.'"  Their  houses  were  Indian 
cabins,  built  of  bark,  except  the  meeting-house,  wliich  was  fash- 
ioned after  the  churches  of  the  pale- faces.  In  this  latter  building 
Eliot  had  a  bed  and  a  room.  Natick  then  contained  one  hundred 
and  fifty-two  persons.  Eliot  saw  that  ci-salization  was  necessary  for 
his  duskj'  proteges,  both  as  a  bond  of  imion  and  as  a  fiilcrum  for  his 
gospel  lever.  He  knew  also  that  resjisonsibility  educates.  So  he 
was  careful  to  induct  into  offices  of  honor  and  responsibility  those 
of  his  converts  who  seemed  the  most  trusty,  energetic,  and  intelli- 
gent. Such  commissions  were  highly  esteemed  by  the  Indians, 
and  sometimes  they  performed  their  official  duty  with  anmsing  for- 
mality.    On  one  occasion,  a  native  magistrate  named  Hihoudi, 

«  Ibid.,  p.  49.     He  came  February  11,  1630, 


310  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEES. 

The  Pilgrims  made  tlie  best  of  every  tiling — saw 
only  the  good  of  the  land.  Even  the  climate  of 
New  England  did  not  lack  encomiasts.     Wood  had 

issued  the  following  warrant,  directed  to  an  Indian  constable  :  "  I, 
Hihoudi,  yon,  Peter  Waterman.  Jeremy  Wisket, — quick  you  take 
him,  fast  j'ou  hold  him,  straight  you  bring  him  before  me.  Hi- 
houdi!" 

Natick  was  a  nucleus  settlement.  Soon  a  number  of  supple- 
mentary colonies  were  grouped  about  it,  and  these  embraced,  some 
sixty,  some  seventy,  some  eighty,  "praying  Indians,"  all  provided 
with  churches,  schools,  and  the  rude  initial  apparatus  of  civiliza- 
tion. In  1674,  there  were  eleven  hundred  Christian  Indians  who 
were  possessed  of  fixed  homes  within  the  jurisdiction  of  Massachu- 
setts. And  Eliot  enumerated  twenty-five  hundred  more  to  Boyle, 
as  settled  in  Plymouth,  Nantucket,  and  Martha's  Vineyard.  "^  The 
usual  exercises  were  praying,  reading  the  Bible,  and  preaching — 
sometimes  by  a  white  teacher,  sometimes  by  a  native  missionary. 
Then  all  united  in  singing;  and  we  are  told  that  "sundry  could 
manage  to  do  so  very  well."  After  this,  some  were  catechized. 
Then,  says  Eliot,  ' '  if  there  was  any  act  of  public  discipline — as 
divers  times  there  was,  since  ignorance  and  partial  barbarism  made 
many  stumblers — the  offender  was  called  forth,  exhorted  to  give 
glory  to  God,  and  urged  to  confess  his  sins."  Kng  Philip's  war 
partially  paralyzed  these  efi"orts  of  Eliot  and  his  compeers  ;  it  rob- 
bed them  of  the  sympathy  of  the  whites,  and  roughened  their  path ; 
but  they  persevered;  and  even  after  Eliot's  decease,  in  1690,  God 
put  it  into  the  hearts  of  some  to  carry  on  his  work,  and  efforts  con- 
tinued to  be  made  towards  the  evangelization  of  the  natives  as  far 
down  as  the  year  1754.  At  that  time  the  Be  v.  Mr.  Hawley  was 
"set  apart"  for  that  special  work,  in  the  "Old  South  Church,"  in 
Boston,  and  Deacon  Woodbridge  and  Jonathan  Edwards  were  en- 
listed in  the  same  good  cause.  Eoger  Williams  had  been  an  active  ■ 
co-worker  with  Eliot,  and  a  little  later  the  Mayhews  gleaned  their 
rich  harvest  at  Martha's  Vineyard.  Indeed,  the  Mayhews  were  so 
successful  that  on  the  single  little  island  where  they  labored,  six 
meetings  were  held  in  as  many  different  places  every  Sabbath,  and 
there  were  ten  native  preachers,  who,  according  to  the  testimony 
of  Thomas  Mayhew,  were  of  "  good  knowledge  and  holy  conversa- 
tion." 

But  the  missionaries  did  not  find  it  plain  sailing.     Besides  the 


INCIDENTS.  311 

been  "  carefully  liatclied,"  yet  in  England  disease 
sapped  his  life.  While  in  America,  he  wrote : 
"  Scarce  do  I  know  what  belongs  to  a  day's  sick- 
ness."* 

An  English  churchman,  who  had  not  Wood's 
motive  for  liking  New  England,  saw  with  different 
eyes  :  "  The  transitions  from  heat  to  cold  are  short, 
sudden,  and  paralyzing.  We  are  sometimes  frying, 
and  at  others  freezing ;  and  as  some  men  die  at  their 
labor  in  the  field  of  heat,  so  some  in  winter  are  fro- 
zen to  death  by  the  cold."f     No  doubt. 

"  Oh,  who  can  hold  a  fire  in  his  hand 
By  thinking  of  the  frosty  Caucasus  ?" 

The  Puritans  saw  New  England  as  the  refuge  of 
the  godly,  and  looking  at  it  through  the  mirage 
of  sentiment,  its  sky  rivalled  that  of  Italy  in  soft 

incessant  jealousy  between  the  whites  and  the  aborigines,  they 
had  to  encounter  the  natural  repugnance  of  the  Indian  to  desert 
the  blind  faith  of  his  fathers  and  accept  the  God  and  Saviour  of 
the  white  men.  Massasoit,  sj^ite  of  his  friendship  for  the  whites, 
lived  and  died  a  strict  unbeliever.  Philii^,  his  son,  was  equally 
obstinate,  saj'ing  on  one  occasion,  after  listening  to  an  exhortation 
from  Eliot,  and  placing  his  hand  on  a  button  on  the  Apostle's  coat : 
"  I  cai-e  no  more  for  the  gospel  than  I  care  for-  that  button."  The 
Narragansetts  went  so  far  as  to  prohibit  preaching  within  their 
borders.  Yet  still  the  missionaries  went  on,  and,  with  God's  bles- 
sing, they  harvested  many  souls,  long  before  good  Bishop)  Berke- 
ley launched  his  noble  but  abortive  scheme  for  the  conversion  of 
the  red  men.  Those  readers  who  are  desirous  of  studj-ing  this 
subject  in  detail,  are  referred  to  Sparks'  Life  of  Eliot ;  Mayhew's 
Indian  experiences  ;  Mansell's  recent  reprint  at  Albany  of  tracts 
concerning-  Eliot's  Indian  missions  ;  E.  Williams'  Key ;  Hubbard's 
Hist.  ;  Mather's  Magnalia  ;  Gookin,  in  Mass.  Hist.  Col.,  etc.,  etc. 

*  Wood's  New  England  Prospect,  p.  4. 

t  J.  Macpherson's  America  Dissected,  1752. 


312  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

beauty.  To  the  cliurcliman  it  seemed  a  rugged  wil- 
derness in  very  deed.  It  was  a  difference  of  stand- 
point. 

But  mild  or  severe,  the  Pilgrims  loved  this 
adopted  mother  on  whose  breast  they  lay,  and  their 
settlements  began  to  increase  in  number.  A  brood 
of  eight  little  towns,  or  toionlets,  now  nestled  under 
the  wings  of  the  Massachusetts  charter ;"  while 
Plymouth  already  began  to  think  of  equipping  a 
new  colony,'!'  and  annexing  the  Connecticut. 

The  western  wilds  were  no  longer  tenantless,  or 
what  is  equivalent  to  that,  held  only  by  iirowliug 
barbarians.  The  French,  who  had  been  hovering 
over  the  coast  ever  since  their  rout  from  L'Acadie, 
in  1613,  by  Sir  Samuel  Argall,  had  recently  acquired 
Canada  by  purchase.:}:  The  wise  statemanship  of 
Piichelieu  had  bought  from  Charles  I. — busy  in  a 
fatal  attempt  to  enforce  ceremonialism, 

"Rending  the  book  in  sliTiggles  for  the  binding," — 

one  of  the  finest  provinces  in  the  known  world  for 
fishing,  masts,  harbors. §  Already  the  Latin  prov- 
inces had  begun  to  string  a  chain  of  citadels  west- 
ward along  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the 
borders  of  the  lakes  to  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi, 

"toiipling  round  the  dreary  west 

A  looming  bastion  fringed  with  fire." 

*  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  323.     These  were  Salem,  Charlestown,  Wa* 
tertown,  Boston,  Roxbury,  Dorchester,  Mystic,  and  Saugus. 
t  Bradford,  p.  311.  •  X  Elliot,  vol.  1,  p.  ^" 

§  Prince,  Bancroft,  Hutchinson. 


INCIDENTS. 


313 


The  Spaniard  was  in  Florida.*  The  Dutchman 
smoked  his  pipe  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson.!  Eng- 
lish adventurers  held  Virginia. J  The  Pilgrims  had 
clutched  New  England.  Labor  was  Yocal  on  every 
hill-side ;  the  whole  continent  began  to  echo  to  the 
civilizing  stroke  of  the  woodman's  axe. 

•■-  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  chap.  2.  passim. 

f  Brodhead's  Hist,  of  New  York.     Dunlap. 

{  Chalmers,  Hening. 


ilgrim  Futhers. 


14 


3M*  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEES. 


CHAPTEE   XXVI. 

THE   ADVANCE   OF   CIVILIZATION. 

"  So  work  the  honey-bees — 
Creatures  that,  by  a  rule  of  nature,  teach 
The  art  of  order  to  a  peopled  kingdom. 
They  have  a  head  and  officers  of  sorts. 
Where  some,  like  magisti'ates,  correct  at  home  ; 
Others,  like  merchants,  venture  trade  abroad  ; 
Others,  like  soldiers,  armed  in  their  stings, 
Make  boot  upon  the  summer's  velvet  buds  ; 
Which  pillage  they  with  merry  march  bring  home 
To  the  tent  royal  of  their  emperor, 
W^ho,  busied  in  his  tent,  surveys 
The  singing  mason  building  roofs  of  gold ; 
The  civil  citizens  kneading  iip  the  honey ; 
The  poor  mechanic  porters  crowding  in 
Their  heavy  burdens  at  his  narrow  gate  ; 
The  sad-eyed  justice,  with  his  siu-ly  hum, 
Delivering  o'er  to  executors  i^ale 
The  lazy,  yawning  di-one." 

Shakspeake's  Henry  V. 

Feom  the  year  1630 — before  that,  but  more  per- 
ceptibly after — the  advancing  march  of  ciYiHzatiou 
carried  all  before  it  in  New  England.  There  were, 
indeed,  occasional  oscillations  in  its  career  of  tri- 
umph; but  always,  when  its  genius  seemed  to  balk, 
it  ended  by  bearing  off  a  trophy. 

At  Plymouth,  all  the  social  and  religious  forces 
had  "settled  down  into  fixed  ways."     Justice  was 


ADVANCE  OF  CIVILIZATION.  315 

administered,  order  was  preserved,  education  was 
provided  for.*     The  old  town  began  to  prosper. 
The  busy  hum  of  men  and  the  hiughter  of  success- 
ful trade  echoed  through  the  streets ;  and  Bradford 
wrote,  "  Though  the  partners  have  been  plunged 
into  great  engagements  and  oppressed  with  unjust 
debts,  yet  the  Lord  has  prospered  our  traffic  so  that 
our  labor  is  not  for  naught.     The  people  of  this 
plantation  begin  to  grovv^  in  their  outward  estates, 
by  reason  of  the  flowing  of  many  into  the  province, 
especially  into  the  settlements  on  Massachusetts 
Bay ;  by  which  means  corn  and  cattle  have  risen  to 
a  great  price,  whereby  some  are  much  enriched, 
while  commodities  grow  plentiful."t 

As  property  and  a  sense  of  security  increased, 
the  Plymouth  Pilgrims  began  to  show  a  disposition 
to  disperse,  for  the  convenience  of  better  pasturage 
and  ampler  farm-room.  So  the  three  hundred  in- 
habitants, esteeming  themselves  crowded,  separa- 
ted, and  a  new  church  and  hamlet  were  planted  on 
the  north  shore  of  the  shallow  harbor.:}:  "The 
town  in  which  all  had  lived  very  compactly  till 
now,"  observes  the  old  Plymouth  governor  some- 
what ruefully,  "  M'as  left  very  thin  by  this  move." 
In  Bradford's  eyes,  it  was  the  beginning  of  a  move- 
ment pregnant  with  evil.§  He  thought,  somewhat 
plausibly,  that  strength  and  safety  lay  in  the  close 
union  of  the  scattered  colonists.  Yet  that  idea  was 
fatal  to  colonization,  and  bolder  theorists  deter- 

*  Thatcher's  Plymoiith.  f  Bradford,  pp.  255-310. 

t  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  336.  §  Bradford,  p.  301. 


316  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEKS. 

mined  to  educate  communities  by  responsibility, 
the  best  of  school-masters.     They  said, 

"  Out  of  this  nettle,  danger,  we  pluck  this  flower,  safety." 

For  several  years  the  church  at  Plymouth  had 
enjoyed  the  ministrations  of  an  ordained  clergy- 
man. That  Separatist,  Mr.  Smith,  who  had  cross- 
ed the  water  with  Higginson  and  Skelton  in  1629, 
perceiving  that  he  was  looked  upon  with  some  sus- 
picion by  his  brother  Pilgrims  on  account  of  his 
"  come-outism,"  an  aroma  which  they  were  not  then 
prepared  to  exhale,  went  immediately  to  Nantas- 
ket,  sojourning  there  "with  some  stragglers"  for 
several  months.'^  One  day  a  Plymouth  boat  hap- 
pened to  touch  at  that  port,  whereupon  Mr.  Smith 
"  earnestly  besought  the  crew  to  give  him  and  his, 
with  such  things  as  could  be  readily  carried,  pas- 
sage to  Plymouth,  as  he  had  heard  that  there  was 
likehhood  that  he  might  there  find  house-room  until 
he  could  determine  where  to  settle;  for  he  said  he 
was  wear}^  of  the  uncouth  place  in  which  he  found 
himself,  where  his  house  was  so  poor  that  neither 
himself  nor  his  goods  could  keep  dry."t 

He  was  brought  to  Plymouth,  where  he  "  exer- 
cised his  gifts" — which  were  rather  "low"| — being 
"  kindly  entertained  and  sheltered,"  and  finally 
"  chosen  into  the  ministry  ;"§  so  that  Brewster 
once  again  found  respite.  A  little  later,  Smith's 
labors  and  gifts  were  supplemented  by  Koger  Will- 

*  Chap.  21,  p.  264.  f  Bradford,  p.  263. 

t  Elliot,  vol.  1.  p.  119.     Young's  Chronicles,  Morton's  Memo- 
rials, etc.  §  Bradford,  p.  263.     Morton. 


ADVANCE  OF  CIVILIZATION.         317 

iams — wlij  and  how  long  we  shall  in  due  time  dis- 
cover. 

In  1632,  an  event  of  no  little  interest  occurred. 
Governor  Winthrop  went  to  Plymouth  to  exchange 
fraternal  greetings  with  Governor  Bradford,  and 
mutual  inquiries  of  "What  cheer?"  were  passed. 
Winthrop  has  related  the  incident.  Let  us  open 
his  record  :  "  The  governor  of  Massachusetts  Baj^, 
with  Mr.  Wilson,  pastor  of  Boston,  and  some  oth- 
ers, went  aboard  the  '  Lion'  on  the  25tli  of  October, 
and  thence  Captain  Pierce  carried  then  to  Wes- 
sagusset,  where  is  now  a  prosperous  settlement  of 
a  gi-aver  sort  than  the  old  ones.  The  next  morn- 
ing the  governor  and  his  company  went  on  foot  to 
Plymouth,  and  came  tliither  within  the  evening. 
The  governor  of  Plymouth,  Mr.  William  Bradford, 
a  very  discreet  and  grave  man,  with  Elder  Brew- 
ster and  some  others,  came  forth  and  met  them 
without  the  town,  and  conducted  them  to  the  gov- 
ernor's house,  where  they  were  very  kindly  enter- 
tained, and  feasted  every  day  at  several  houses. 

"  On  the  Lord's  Day  there  was  a  sacrament,  of 
which  they  partook;  and  in  the  afternoon  Mr.  Eoger 
Williams,  according  to  the  Plj^mouth  custom,  pro- 
pounded a  question,  to  which  the  pastor,  Mr.  Ealpli 
Smith,  spoke  briefly;  then  Mr.  Wilhams  prophe- 
sied f  and  after,  the  governor  of  Plj'mouth  spoke 
to  the  question ;  after  him,  the  elder ;  then  some 
two  or  three  more  of  the  congregation.  Then  the 
elder  desired  the  governor  of  Massachusetts  Bay 

*  The  old  form  of  expression  for  exhort  or  expound. 


318  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEES. 

and  Mr.  Wilson  to  speak  to  it,  which  they  did. 
When  this  was  done,  Mr.  Fuller,  their  surgeon,  put 
the  congregation  in  mind  of  their  duty  of  contribu- 
tion; whereujDon  the  governors  and  all  the  rest 
went  down  to  the  deacon's  seat,  and  put  into  the 
box,  and  then  returned. 

"  On  Wednesday,  the  31st  of  October,  at  about 
five  o'clock  in  the  morning,  the  governor  and  his 
company  came  out  of  Plymouth;  whose  governor, 
pastor,  elder,  and  others,  accompanied  them  nearly 
half  a  mile  in  the  dark.  Lieutenant  Holmes,  one 
of  their  chiefest  men,  with  two  companions  and 
Governor  Bradford's  mare,  came  along  with  them 
to  a  great  swamp,  about  ten  miles.  When  they 
came  to  the  great  river,*  they  were  carried  over 
one  by  one  by  Luddam,  their  guide,  as  they  had 
been  when  they  came,  the  stream  being  very  strong, 
and  up  to  the  crotch;  so  the  governor  called  that 
passage  '  Luddam's  Ford.'  Thence  they  came  to 
a  place  called  '  Hue's  Cross.'  The  governor  be- 
ing displeased  at  the  name,  because  such  things 
might  hereafter  give  the  papists  occasion  to  say 
that  their  religion  was  first  planted  in  these  parts, 
changed  the  name,  and  called  it  'Hue's  Folly.'  So 
they  came  that  evening  to  Wessagussett,  where 
they  were  bountifully  entertained,  as  before;  and 
the  next  day  all  came  safe  to  Boston. "f 

This  was  the  first  interchange  of  gubernatorial 
civilities  ever  known  in  America.     It  was  certainly 

*  Now  called  "North  river,"  near  Scituate.  Massachusetts 
Hist.  Col.  4.  t  Winthrop,  vol.  1,  pp.  108-111. 


ADVANCE  OF  CIVILIZATION.  319 

unique.  One  governor  lent  the  other  his  mare  to 
ride  home  upon,  gave  him  a  guide  on  whose  shoul- 
ders he  could  be  ferried  across  a  rapid  stream,  and 
entertained  his  guest  by  beseeching  him  to  "  proph- 
esy" on  the  Sabbath,  and  by  gently  reminding  him 
that  the  contribution-box  Avas  empty. 

Such  was  the  homely,  hearty,  frank  hospitality 
of  the  Pilgrim  fathers  over  two  hundred  years  ago. 
Such  were  the  manners  and  customs  of  New  Eng- 
land when  Brewster  "prophesied"  and  when  Win- 
throp  and  Bradford  governed.  Looking  back  across 
two  centuries,  we  smile ;  but  perhaps,  with  all  its 
super-refinement,  modern  hospitality  is  no  whit  in 
advance  of  that  which  contented  Winthrop,  and  of 
which  it  may  be  said, 

' '  There  was  no  winter  in 't ;  an  antumn  't  was, 
That  grew  the  more  by  reaping." 

In  this  same  year  of  Winthrop's  visit  to  Plym- 
outh, the  Pilgrims  had  their  first  boundary  quarrel 
with  the  French.  The  extent  of  Acadia  to  the  west 
was  long  a  subject  of  dispute.*  The  lands  which 
bordered  on  the  rival  boundaries  became  a  "  deba- 
table" ground.  Bradford  and  his  coadjutors  had 
erected  a  trading  station  on  the  Penobscot.  This 
was  now  assaulted,  and  "despoiled  of  five  hundred 
pounds  worth  of  beaver-skins,  besides  a  store  of 
coats,  rugs,  blankets,  biscuits ;"  and  insult  was 
added  to  injury ;  for  the  cavalier  Frenchmen  bade 
the  tenants  of  the  plundered  post  tell  the  English 

*  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  337.     Hubbard,  Prince. 


320  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEES. 

that  "  some  gentlemen  of  the  Isle  of  Eh^  had  been 
there  to  leave  their  compliments."^'" 

This  taunt  was  not  instantly  responded  to.  In- 
deed, it  was  put  out  at  interest,  and  remained  unset- 
tled until  the  next  century,  when  these  "  religious 
English"  gave  the  intruders  indefinite  leave  of  ab- 
sence from  Canada,  and  settled  the  boundary  ques- 
tion by  annexing  the  whole  territory. 

As  an  offset  to  their  loss  on  the  eastern  rivers, 
the  Plymouth  Pilgrims  began  to  push  their  enter- 
j)rise  towards  the  west.  "  Eumor,  with  its  thousand 
tongues,"  had  frequentl}^  hymned  the  praises  of  the 
Eldorado  of  Connecticut.  The  i^hlegmatic  Dutch- 
man, so  cold  on  other  themes,  kindled  on  this,  and 
actually  took  his  pipe  out  of  his  mouth,  that  he 
might  speak  more  freely.  The  taciturn  Indian 
melted  into  profuse  and  graphic  eloquence  when 
he  painted  the  beauty  and  fertility  of  these  west- 
ern bottom-lands.f 

These  glowing  reports  at  length  won  the  Pil- 
grims, tied  at  first  by  the  necessity  of  overcoming  a 
contiguous  wilderness,  to  scout  in  that  region.  Par- 
ties visited  the  banks  of  the  "  Fresh  river,"  as  the 
Dutch  styled  it,^  or  the  Connecticut,  as  it  soon  came 
to  be  called,  "  not  without  profit,"  finding  it  "  a  fine 
jjlace  both  for  planting  and  for  trade. "§ 

In  1633,  Bradford  and  Winslow,  who  had  him- 

*  Bradford,  p.  29i. 

t  Ibid.,  p.  311.     Winthrop,  Hubbard,  Thatcher. 
\  Brodhead's  N.  Y.  ;  the  Dutch  claim  to  have  discovered  it. 
Brodhead.  §  Bradford,  ut  antea. 


ADVANCE   OF  CIVILIZATION.  321 

self  bathed  in  the  waters  of  the  silvery  river,  went 
np  to  Boston  to  solicit  from  Winthrop  a  united 
effort  to  colonize  the  Connecticut  valley.  In  the 
first  spring  after  Winthrop's  landing,  a  Connecticut 
sachem,  expelled  from  his  hunting-grounds  by  the 
prowess  of  the  Pequods,  a  fierce  and  numerous 
tribe,  as  powerful  in  New  England  as  the  "  Six  Na- 
tions" were  in  New  York,*  had  come  across  the 
country  to  offer  the  pale-faces  a  settlement  on  the 
banks  of  the  beautiful  river,  together  with  the  alli- 
ance of  his  warriors  and  a  yearly  tribute  of  corn 
and  beaver.t  The  Indian  negotiator  was  well 
received,  but  Winthrop  declined  to  accede  to  his 
request,  since,  "  on  account  of  their  so  recent  arri- 
val, they  were  not  fit  to  undertake  it.":|:  The  Plym- 
outh diplomats  received  the  same  answer ;  and  re- 
turning home,  they  resolved  to  push  into  the  Con- 
necticut forests  unassisted.§ 

Meantime  the  Dutch,  hearing  of  this  purpose 
and  preparation,  decided  to  preoccupy  the  land, 
and  so,  by  antedating  the  Pilgrim  settlement,  claim 
the  soil  by  priority.il  They  did  indeed  purchase, 
from  a  Pequod  chief,  a  spot  of  land  where  Hartford 
now  stands,  and  erecting  a  "slight  fort"  in  June, 
1633,  planted  cannon,  and  forbade  any  Englishman 
to  pass.l 

Undeterred  by  threats,  the  Pilgrims  perfected 

*  Trumbiill's  Conuecticut.  ■  f  Winthrop,  vol.  1,  p.  52. 

I  Bradford,  p.  312.  §  Ibid. 

II  Brodhead'sN.  Y.,  Bradford,  Hubbard. 
U  Ibid.,  Palfrey. 

14* 


322  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEES. 

tlieir  arrangements,  and  in  October  sailed  by  the 
"Good  Hope"  of  the  Dutch,  after  a  parley  and 
mutual  threats* — in  which  they  were  struck  only 
by  a  few  Dutch  oaths — and  planted  at  Windsor  the 
first  English  colony  in  Connecticut.t  A  twelve- 
month later,  a  company  of  seventy  Dutchmen  quit- 
ted New  Amsterdam  with  the  avowed  purpose  of 
expelling  ihe  Pilgrim  pioneers.  But  after  observing 
the  spirit  and  jDreparation  of  the  little  garrison, 
they  concluded  to  end  their  war-trail  in  a  reconcil- 
iation, and  retired  without  violence.^ 

In  the  midst  of  their  hardy  enteriDrise,  while  the 
door  of  civilization  w^as  just  ajar  in  Connecticut,  an 
infectious  fever  came  to  scourge  the  Pilgrims.  "It 
pleased  the  Lord  to  visit  those  at  Plymouth,"  says 
Bradford,  "  with  a  severe  sickness  this  year,  of 
which  many  fell  sick,  and  upwards  of  twenty,  men, 
women,  and  children,  died  ;  among  the  rest,  several 
of  those  who  had  recently  come  over  from  Leyden  ; 
and  at  the  last,  Samuel  Fuller,  their  surgeon  and 
phj'sician.  Before  his  death,  he  had  helped  many 
and  comforted  all;  as  in  his  profession,  so  other- 
wise, being  a  deacon  in  the  church  and  a  godly 
man,  forward  to  do  good,  he  was  much  missed. 
All  were  much  lamented,  and  the  sadness  caused 
the  people  to  humble  themselves  and  seek  God ; 
and  towards  winter  it  seemed  good  to  him  to  stay 
the  sickness. 

*  Brodliead's  N.  Y.,  Bradford,  Hubbard,  Palfrey, 
t  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  340. 

X  Winthrop,  vol.  1,  pp.  105-113.    Bradford,  pp.  311-314.    Brod- 
head.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  vol.  1,  pp.  235-242 


ADVANCE  OF  CIVILIZATION.  323 

*'This  disease  swept  away- many  of  tlie  Indians 
in  that  vicinage ;  and  the  spring  before,  especially 
all  the  month  of  May,  there  was  such  a  quantity  of 
strange  flies,  like  wasps  in  size,  or  bumblebees,  com- 
ing out  of  holes  in  the  ground,  spreading  through 
the  woods,  and  eating  up  every  green  thing,  as 
caused  the  forest  to  ring  with  their  hum  ready  to 
deafen  the  hearers."  They  have  not  been  heard  or 
seen  since ;  but  the  Indians  then  said  their  pres- 
ence foretokened  sickness,  which  indeed  came  in 
June,  July,  August,  and  the  chief  heat  of  summer." t 

At  this  jieriod  in  colonial  history,  the  tide  of  em- 
igration seemed  to  flow  at  one  time  and  to  ebb  at 
another.  It  was  governed  by  the  increase  or  the 
slack  of  persecution  in  England.  In  1680,  the  date 
of  the  alienation  of  the  provincial  government,  it 
was  at  the  flood  ;  in  the  succeeding  year  it  actually 
receded.  "  Climate  and  the  sufferings  of  the  set- 
tlers were  against  free  emigration  ;  and  besides, 
Morton,  Radcliff,  and  Gardiner,  were  busy  in  the 
island  against  the  colonists.  In  1631,  only  ninety 
persons  came  over.  But  in  1632,  the  sluggish  cur- 
rent quickened,  and  again  set  westward.  Spite  of 
threats,  the  Pilgrims  had  not  been  molested,  and 
as  Laud's  pesterings  grew  in  virulence,  many  ships 
then  prepared  to  start,  and  some  of  Britain's  no- 
blest sons  were  about  to  desert  her ;  among  them 

*  "  The  insect  here  described,"  remarks  Judge  Davis,  "  is  the 
Cicada  Sepiendecim  of  Linnasus,  commonly  called  the  locust.  They 
have  frequently  appeared  since,  indicated  by  Linnteus'  specific 
name."     Davis'  edition  of  the  Mem.,  p.  171. 

t  Bradford,  pp.  314,  315. 


324  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

Lord  Say,  Lord  Eioli,  the  '  good  Lord  Brooke/ 
Hazlerigge,  Pjm,  Hampden,  and  Oliver  Cromwell. 
But  on  the  31st  of  February,  1633,  the  king,  in 
council,  issued  an  order  to  stay  the  flotilla."* 

'T  is  a  high  fact,  and  shows  upon  what  slight 
hinges  the  weightiest  events  turn.  The  very  fore- 
most chiefs  of  the  maturing  revolution  were  at  this 
time  not  only  anxious  to  emigrate,  but  had  actually 
embarked  for  America.  Well  would  it  have  been 
for  Charles,  had  he  said  to  the  disaffected  Puritans, 

"  Stand  not  upon  the  order  of  your  going, 
But  go  at  once." 

Had  some  good  genius  nudged  the  elbow  of 
the  king,  on  that  critical  morning  when  his  breath- 
less messenger  was  hastening  to  stay  the  emi- 
grant flotilla,  urged  him  to  say  Yes,  to  its  sailing, 
and  foretold  the  future,  how  eagerly  the  fated  mon- 
arch Avould  have  caught  the  cue,  and  torn  that 
parchment,  so  pregnant  with  mischief,  which  for- 
bade their  departure ;  and  offered  .the  immortal 
junto  jewels  of  gold  and  precious  stones  as  an 
inducement  to  be  gone,  and  cried,  "Egypt  is  glad," 
when  they  set  out. 

But  God  made  the  wrath  of  man  praise  him. 
He  struck  the  besotted  court  with  judicial  blind- 

*  Elliot,  vol.  1,  pp.  160,  161.  Hist.  Eng.  Puritans,  Am.  Tract 
Soc,  N.  Y.,  1866.  Arch.  Am.  Mather's  MagnaUa,  vol.  1,  p.  97. 
Eev.  J.  S.  M.  Anderson's  Hist,  of  the  Col.  Chh.  of  the  B.  Emp., 
vol.  1,  p.  175,  note.  The  fact  of  this  embarkation  of  Cromwell 
and  Hampden  has  been  questioned  by  some  careful  writers.  See 
Forster's  British  Statesmen,  in  loco.  Also,  Sanford's  111.  of  the 
Fr.  Eev.,  Lond.,  1858.      . 


ADVANCE  OF  CIVILIZATION.         325 

ness.  Neither  Charles,  nor  Strafford,  nor  Laud 
could  read  the  hand- writing  on  the  wall.  They 
could  not  foresee  events  which  were  ere  long  to 

"Flight  the  isle 
From  her  proprietj'." 

These  "fanatics"  were  not  needed  in  New  Eng- 
land. Their  fellows  had  already  commenced  to 
build,  at  Plymouth  and  at  Massachusetts  Bay,  for 
God  and  liberty.  So  they  were  detained  to  organ- 
ize "resistance  to  tyrants"  in  the  senate-house,  and 
to  give  the  arbitrary  principle  its  death-blow  at 
Naseby  and  Long  Marston  Moor. 

But  though  the  court,  frightened  at  the  prodi- 
gious extent  of  an  emigration  which  threatened  to 
depopulate  the  kingdom,  had  fulminated  a  decree 
against  colonization,  the  dei3arture  of  Pilgrims  was 
only  hindered,  not  stayed.  They  continued  to  cross 
the  water  until,  in  1640,  this  pattering  emigration 
had  rained  four  thousand  families  and  upwards  of 
twenty  thousand  settlers  into  NeAv  England.^  Then 
for  a  few  glorious  years  the  exodus  ceased.  The 
prospect  of  reform  in  England  caused  men  to  re- 
main at  home,  "  in  the  hope  of  seeing  a  new  world" 
without  passing  the  Atlantic. 

In  the  summer  of  this  same  year  which  wit- 
nessed the  detention  of  Cromwell,  and  P3^m,  and 
Hampden,  and  Hazlerigge,  and  Lord  Brooke,  a 
ship  was  freighted  for  America  ;  and  with  two  hun- 
dred other  passengers,  it  bore  to  these  shores  three 
men  who  became  as  famous  on  this  side  the  water 

*  H\itchinson,  vol.  1.  p.  93. 


323  THE  PILGEIM  FATHERS. 

as  tlie  revolutionists  did  on  the  other— Jolm  Haynes, 
John  Cotton,  and  Thomas  Hooker.*  On  board  the 
"Griffin"  at  this  same  time  was  another  eminent 
minister,  Mr.  Stone  ;  "  and  this  glorious  triumvirate 
coming  together,"  remarks  Cotton  Mather,  "  made 
the  poor  people  in  the  wilderness  say  that  God  had 
supplied  them  with  what  would  in  some  sort  answer 
their  three  great  necessities  ;  Cotton  for  their  cloth- 
ing, Hoolcer  for  their  fishing,  and  Stone  for  their 
building,  "t 

Haynes,  afterwards  governor  both  of  Massachu- 
sets  and  Connecticut,  was  "a  man  of  very  large 
estate,  and  still  larger  affections ;  of  a  '  heavenly ' 
mind  and  a  spotless  life  ;  of  rare  sagacity  and  accu- 
rate but  unassuming  judgment ;  by  nature  tolerant; 
ever  a  friend  to  freedom,  ever  conciliating  peace. 
He  was  an  able  legislator,  and  dear  to  the  Pil- 
grims by  his  benevolence  and  his  disinterested  con- 

duct."| 

Cotton  and  Hooker  speedily  became  the  most 
revered  spiritual  teachers  of  two  commonwealths ; 
Cotton  shaped  and  toned  Massachusetts  ecclesias- 
ticism ;  Hooker  was  the  Moses  of  Connecticiit. 
Both  were  well  born ;  both  had  been  clergymen  of 
the  Enghsh  church;  both  had  been  silenced  for 
non-conformity;  both  were  consummate  scholars — 
in  Mather's  strong  phrase,  walking  libraries;  both 
had  won  wide  fame  at  home,  which,  like  Joseph's 
bough,  "ran  over  the  wall"  of  the  Atlantic  ocean, 

o  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  p.  362.  t  Bancroft,  ut  antea. 

f  Magualia,  vol.  1,  p.  265. 


ADVANCE  OF  CIVILIZATION.         327 

and  made  their  names  familiar  in  every  cabin  on 
the  eastern  coast. 

"  Cotton  was  acute  and  subtile.  The  son  of  a 
Puritan  lawyer,  he  had  been  eminent  at  Cambridge 
as  a  student.  He  was  quick  in  the  nice  perception 
of  distinctions,  and  pliant  in  dialectics ;  in  manner 
persuasive  rather  than  commanding ;  skilled  in  the 
fathers  and  the  schoolmen,  but  finding  all  their  wis- 
dom compactly  stored  in  Calvin ;  deeply  devout  by 
nature  as  well  as  habit  from  childhood;  hating  her- 
esy and  still  precipitately  eager  to  prevent  evil 
actions  by  suppressing  ill  opinions,  yet  verging  in 
opinion  towards  progress  in  civil  and  religious  free- 
dom. He  was  the  avowed  foe  of  democracy,  which 
he  feared  as  the  blind  despotism  of  animal  instincts 
in  the  multitude.  Yet  he  opposed  hereditary  power 
in  all  its  forms ;  desiring  a  government  of  moral 
opinion,  according  to  the  laws  of  moral  equit}',  and 
'claiming  the  ultimate  resolution  for  the  whole  body 
of  the  people.'  "* 

Cotton  was,  if  not  the  originator,  then  the  main 
mover  of  the  theocratical  idea.  "  When  he  came," 
says  Mather,  "there  were  divers  churches  in  Amer- 
ica, but  the  country  was  in  a  perplexed  and  divided 
state  ;  points  of  church  order  he  settled  with  exact- 
ness ;  and  inasmuch  as  no  little  of  an  Athenian 
democracy  was  in  the  mould  of  the  colonial  govern- 
ment, by  the  royal  charter  which  was  then  acted 
upon,  he  effectually  recommended  that  none  should 
be  electors  or  elected  except  such  as  were  visible 
*  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  p.  363. 


328  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEES. 

subjects  of  Christ  personally  confederated  in  the 
church.  In  this  way,  and  in  others,  he  propounded 
an  endeavor  after  a  theocracy,  as  near  as  might  be 
to  that  which  was  the  glory  of  Israel.""- 

Cotton  was  a  man  of  much  personal  humility. 
"He  learned  the  lesson  of  Gregory,  'It  is  better, 
many  times,  to  fly  from  an  injury  by  silence,  than  to 
overcome  it  by  replying  ;'  and  he  used  that  practice 
of  Gryngeus,  '  To  revenge  wrongs  by  Christian  taci- 
turnity.' On  one  occasion  he  had  modestly  replied 
to  one  that  would  much  talk  and  croak  of  his  in- 
sight into  the  revelations:  'Brother,  I  must  con- 
fess myself  to  want  lujlit  in  these  mysteries.'  The 
man  went  home  and  sent  Cotton  a  pound  of  can- 
dl€sr\ 

He  was  iron  in  his  doctrines,  but  personally  he 
had  the  nimia  humilitas  which  Luther  sometimes 
lamented  in  Staupitz ;  so  much  so,  indeed,  that 
Mather  marvels  that  "  the  hardest  flints  should  not 
have  been  broken  on  such  a  soft  bag  of  cotton.":}: 

Cotton,  on  landing,  in  1633,  at  once  assumed 
that  leading  position  to  which  his  intellect  entitled 
him,  and  his  pulpit  at  Boston  speedily  became  a 
leading  power  in  Massachusetts. 

Hooker  was  settled,  during  his  sojourn  in  the 
Bay  plantation,  at  Cambridge.§  He  was  a  man  "of 
vast  endowments,  a  strong  will,  and  an  energetic 
mind.     Ingenuous  in  temper,  he  was  oj)en  in  his 

«  Magnalia,  vol.  1,  pp.  265,  266.      f  I^d,  p.  277.      J  Ibid.,  276. 
§  Mather's  Magnalia,  vol.  1,  p.  343.     Mr.  Stone  was  his  assist- 
ant. 


ADVANCE  or  CIVILIZATION.  329 

professions.  He  had  been  trained  to  benevolence 
bj  the  discipHne  of  affliction,  and  to  tolerance 
by  his  refuge  from  home  persecution  in  Holland. 
He  was  choleric  in  temper,  yet  gentle  in  his  affec- 
tions ;  firm  in  faith,  yet  readily  yielding  to  the 
power  of  reason ;  the  peer  of  the  reformers,  without 
their  harshness  ;  the  devoted  apostle  to  the  humble 
and  the  poor,  severe  only  to  the  proud,  mild  in  his 
soothings  of  a  wounded  spirit,  glowing  with  the  rap- 
tures of  devotion,  and  kindling  with  the  messages 
of  redeeming  love.  His  eye,  voice,  gesture,  and 
whole  frame,  were  animated  with  the  living  vigor  of 
heart-felt  religion ;  he  was  public-spirited  and  lav- 
ishly charitable  ;  and  'though  persecution  and  ban- 
ishment had  awaited  him  as  one  wave  follows  an- 
other,' he  was  ever  serenely  blessed  with  '  a  glori- 
ous peace  of  soul' — fixed  in  his  trust  in  Providence, 
and  in  his  adhesion  to  the  cause  of  advancing  civ- 
ilization, which  he  cherished  always,  even  while  it 
remained  to  him  a  mystery. 

"  This  was  he  whom,  for  his  abilities  and  ser- 
vices, his  contemporaries  placed  'in  the  first  rank' 
of  men ;  praising  him  as  the  one  rich  pearl  with 
which  '  Europe  more  than  repaid  America  for  the 
treasures  from  her  coast.'  The  people  to  whom 
Hooker  had  ministered  in  England  had  preceded 
him  in  exile  ;  as  he  landed,  they  crowded  about  him 
with  their  cheery  welcome.  '  Now  I  live,'  exclaimed 
he,  as  with  open  arms  he  embraced  his  flock,  '  now 
I  live  if  ye  stand  fast  in  the  Lord.'  "* 
*  Bancroft,  ut  antea. 


330  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

Hooker  was  an  apostle  of  great  boldness  and  of 
singular  cliarity.  He  had  fine  tact  and  a  liabit  of 
discrimination.  He  had  a  saying  that  "  some  were 
to  be  saved  by  compassion,  otliers,  by  fear,  being- 
pulled  out  of  the  fire."  He  knew  how  to  reach  the 
heart ;  once,  when  a  settlement  twenty  leagues  from 
his  habitation  was  suffering  from  hunger,  he  sent  a 
ship-load  of  corn  to  relieve  the  sufferers,  thus  de- 
monstrating his  Christianity  by  what  Chrysostom 
calls  "  unanswerable  syllogisms."* 

Whitfield  once  said  of  him  :  "  Hooker  is  one  in 
whom  the  utmost  learning  and  wisdom  are  temjDered 
by  the  finest  zeal,  holiness,  and  watchfulness;  for, 
though  naturally  a  man  of  choleric  temper,  and 
possessing  a  mighty  vigor  and  fervor  of  s^Dirit, 
which  as  occasion  served  was  wondrous  useful  to 
him,  yet  he  had  as  much  government  of  his  choler 
as  a  man  has  over  a  mastiff  dog  in  a  chain  ;  he  could 
let  out  his  dog  or  piill  him  in,  as  he  pleased. "t 

Mather  records  that  some  one  once,  seeing  Hook- 
er's heroism  and  persistent  goodness,  said  :  "  He  is 
a  man  Avho,  while  doing  his  Master's  work,  would 
put  a  king  in  his  pocket.":j: 

Of  this  there  was  an  instance.  It  chanced  once 
that  on  a  fast-day  kept  throughout  England,  the 
judges  on  their  circuit  stopped  over  at  Chelmsford, 
where  Hooker  was  to  preach.  Here,  before  a  vast 
audience,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  judges,  he 
freely  inveighed  against  the  sins  of  England,  and 
foretold  the  plagues  that  would  result.  Charles  had 
*  Magnalia,  vol.  1,  p.  346.  f  Ibid.,  p.  345.  J  Ibid. 


ADVANCE  OF  CIVILIZATION.  331 

recently  married  a  papist  princess.  The  undaunted 
apostle  in  liis  prayer  besought  God  to  set  in  the 
heart  of  the  king  what  His  own  mouth  had  spoken 
by  his  prophet  Malachi,  as  he  distinctly  quoted  it : 
"  An  abomination  is  committed ;  Judah  hath  mar- 
ried the  daughter  of  a  strange  god ;  the  Lord  will 
cut  oif  the  man  that  doeth  this."  Though  the  judges 
turned  to  and  noted  the  passage  thus  cited,  Hooker 
came  to  no  trouble  ;  but  it  Avas  not  long  before  Eng- 
land did." 

Hooker  and  Cotton  have  been  well  called  the 
Luther  and  Melancthon  of  New  England  ;  each  be- 
came the  oracle  of  his  plantation. 

And  now  "  the  prophets  in  exile  began  to  see  the 
true  forms  of  the  house."  They  already  held  the  soil 
by  a  twofold  title  :  the  royal  charter  had  granted  it 
to  the  patentees  called  the  "  Massachusetts  Com- 
pan}^"  "to  be  held  by  them,  their  heirs  and  assigns, 
in  free  and  common  soccage ;  paying,  in  lieu  of  all 
services,  one  fifth  of  the  gold  and  silver  that  should 
be  found."t  And  this  vestment  the  conscientious 
Pilgrims  had  been  careful  to  supplement  by  actual 
purchase  from  the  aborigines.:!: 

Every  day  the  old  trading  corporation  assumed 
new  prerogatives,  verging  more  and  more  towards 
a  representative  democracy.  Winthrop  was  timid, 
and  doubted  the  legality  of  this  popular  movement. 
Cotton  was  alarmed ;  and  on  one  election  day  he 
essayed  to  check  the  democratic  tendency  by  preach- 

«  Magnalia,  vol.  1,  p.  345.  f  See  the  Charter. 

I  Chap.  21,  pp.  260,  261  ;  also  chap.  27,.  p.  342. 


332  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEES. 

ing  to  the  assembled  freemen  against  rotation  in 
ojQSice,  arguing  that  an  honest  magistrate  held  his 
position  as  a  proprietor  holds  his  freehold.  But  the 
voters  were  deaf  to  the  fears  of  the  government,  and 
careless,  for  once,  of  the  decision  of  the  pulpit. 
Dudley  succeeded  Winthrop  in  the  gubernatorial 
chair  ;*  legislation  was  intrusted  to  representatives 
chosen  by  the  several  towns  of  Massachusetts  Bay  ;t 
it  was  decreed  that  the  freemen  at  large  should 
be  convened  only  for  the  election  of  magistrates.]: 
Thus,  in  1634,  the  electors  exercised  their  "  absolute 
power,"  and  "  established  a  reformation  of  such 
things  as  they  judged  to  be  amiss  in  the  model  of 
government."§ 

Now  the  colonial  authority  was  divided  between 
two  branches.  The  representatives  were  the  legis- 
lative, the  magistrates  were  the  executive  arm. 
Both  sat  together  in  the  outset,  forming  what  Avas 
called  "  The  General  Court."  Finally,  the  magis- 
trates grew  discontented ;  as  the  towns  increased, 
so  did  the  representatives;  and  they  found  them- 
selves outvoted ;  so  they  joressed  for  separate  houses, 
each  with  a  veto  on  the  other.  It  was  granted.  The 
deputies  and  the  coitncil  were  inaugurated  ;||  and  these, 
tinder  the  Eepublic,  have  become  the  Eej)resenta- 
tives  and  the  Senate. 

Next,  a  law  Avas  framed  which  forbade  arbitrary 
taxation;  it  was  decreed  that  "the  deputies  alone 

*^  Wintbrop's  Journal.  f  Colony  Eecorcls.     Winthrop. 

t  Ibid.  §  Wiutbrop,  Hutcbinson,  Hubbard. 

II  Ibid.,  EUiot. 


ADVANCE  OF  CIVILIZATION.  333 

were  competent  to  grant  land  or  raise  money."* 
Already  "  tlie  state  was  filled  witli  tlie  bane  of  vil- 
lage politicians  ;  '  the  freemen  of  every  town  in  the 
Bay  were  busy  in  inquiring  into  their  liberties.' 
With  the  important  exception  of  universal  suffrage, 
in  our  age  so  happily  in  process  of  complete  estab- 
lishment, representative  democracy  was  as  perfect 
two  centuries  ago  as  it  is  to-day.  Even  the  magis- 
trates who  acted  as  judges  held  their  office  by  an- 
nual popular  election.  '  Elections  cannot  be  safe 
there  long,'  sneered  an  English  lawyer,  Leckford, 
with  a  shrug.  The  same  prediction  has  been  made 
these  two  hundred  years.  The  public  mind,  in  per- 
petual agitation,  is  still  easil}^  shaken,  even  by  slight 
and  transient  impulses  ;  but  after  all  its  vibrations, 
it  follows  the  laws  of  the  moral  world  and  safely 
recovers  its  balance."! 

The  test  of  citizenship  was  indeed  exclusive. 
But  the  conception  which  based  the  ballot  on  good- 
ness of  the  highest  type,  goodness  of  such  purity 
and  force  that  nothing  save  faith  in  Christ  could 
create  it — which  conferred  political  power  on  per- 
sonal character,  was  noble,  even  while  impractica- 
ble. But  God  commissioned  an  American  reformer 
to  plant  the  seed  of  a  larger  growth  by  a  vehement 
and  potent  protest. 

^  Elliot,  Bancroft.  f  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  p.  365. 


334  THE  PILGKIM  FATHEES. 


CHAPTER   XXVII. 

KOGEE   WILLIAMS. 

"I  venerate  the  mau  whose  heart  is  warm, 
Whose  hands  are  pure,  whose  cloctrine  and  whose  life, 
Coincident,  exhibit  hicid  proof 
That  he  is  honest  in  the  sacred  cause." 

Cowpee's  Task. 

The  Pilgrim  Fathers  were  enamoured  of  tlie  Mo- 
saic code.  They  esteemed  it  to  be  a  diamond  with- 
out a  flaw.  Their  constant,  persistent  effort  was  to 
naturalize  the  Jewish  ritual  in  New  England.  For 
this  their  statesmen  planned  and  their  divines  dog- 
matized. They  did  not  remember  that  the  judicial 
government  which  fitted  the  world  in  its  infancy 
had  been  outgrown,  and  now  sat  awkwardly  upon 
Christendom  twenty-one  years  of  age.  They  did 
not  remember  that  Christ  had  "  rung  out"  the  old 
dispensation  and  "rung  in"  a  grander  and  broader 
one. 

Of  course,  in  standing  under  the  Mosaic  code 
they  were  perfectly  sincere ;  and  to  their  sincerity 
they  wedded  a  Titanic  earnestness.  They  regarded 
toleration  as  a  snare  and  a  curse.  It  was  either  the 
badge  of  indifference  or  tlie  corslet  of  Atheism; 
therefore  a  vice  entitled  to  no  terms.  The  advo- 
cates of  toleration  in  the  seventeenth  century  may 
be  counted  on  the  fingers  of  one's  two  hands. 
The  most  advanced  thinkers  of  that  ejDoch  scarcely 


EOGER  WILLIAMS.  335 

ventured,  even  in  tlieir  most  generous  moments,  to 
hint  at  a  toleration  of  all  creeds — each  man  re- 
sponsible alone  to  God.  The  Komanist  denied  it 
amid  the  crackling  jQames  of  his  auto  da  ft,  and 
held  with  the  Sorbonne  and  with  Bossu^t,  that  the 
stake  is  bound  to  extirpate  heresy.*  The  Prot- 
estant urged  exceptions  when  he  asked  for  tolera- 
tion ;  and,  with  Cartwright,  forsook  those  who  came 
under  his  ban,  "  that  they  might  not  corrupt  and 
infect  others."t 

Tindale  appealed  not  to  the  Pope,  or  to  councils, 
or  to  the  king,  but  to  the  Bible.  So  did  Latimer ; 
so  did  the  Eidleys ;  so  did  Cranmer ;  so  did  Brad- 
ford :  all  of  whom  were  blessed  martyrs :  yet  none 
of  these  believed  in  full  toleration ;  they  had  not  yet 
reached  it.  They  accepted  what  was  behind  them ; 
they  had  a  shadowy  conception  of  what  was  in 
advance ;  but  they  feared,  and  were  tolerant  only 
up  to  their  own  position,  while  they  cried  "  halt !" 
to  a  farther  progress. 

This  European  wave  of  sentiment  swept  in  strong 
eddies  to  America ;  and  in  New  England  Cotton 
wrote:  "It  was  toleration  that  made  the  world  anti- 
Christian;  and  the  church  never  took  harm  by  the 
punishment  of  heretics."^  The  cobbler  of  Aga- 
wam§  responded :   "  Yes  :  to  authorize  an  untruth 

■"-  Bossnet. 

t  Eeply  to  Whitgift,  cited  by  Sto%Yell  iu  his  History  of  Eng- 
and.     Puritans. 

%  "  Bloody  Tenet ;"  see  Cotton's  Controversy  with  Koger  Wil- 
liams. 

§  Kev.  Mr.  Ward,  in  1647. 


336  THE  PILGKIM  FATHERS. 

by  a  toleration  of  state,  is  to  build  a  sconce  against 
the  walls  of  heaven,  to  batter  God  out  of  his 
chair."* 

Therefore,  the  Pilgiim  Fathers,  backed  by  the 
public  opinion  of  Christendom,  tabooed  tolera- 
tion, and  gave  it  no  place  under  the  theocracy. 
When  Roger  Williams  landed  with  his  wife  at  Bos- 
ton, in  1631,  this  w^as  the  sentiment  and  so  stood 
the  law. 

He  was  a  Welchman — for  he  had  been  cradled 
in  the  crags  of  Carmarthen — some  thirty  years  of 
age,  ripe  for  great  acts,  and  though  sometime  a 
minister  of  the  English  church,  he  had  thrown  up 
his  living  because  he  could  not,  in  Milton's  phrase, 
"subscribe  him  slave,"  by  conforming  to  Laud's 
idea.t 

He  had  heard  of  America  as  a  land  of  splendid 
possibilities^ — as  the  Holy  Land  of  a  grander  cru- 
sade than  that  which  liad  been  launched  to  clutch 
the  East  fi-om  beneath  the  Saracenic  scimetars;  for 
this  meant  not  empt}'  sentimentality,  it  was  an  effort 
to  win  the  wilderness  for  God.  In  that  essay  he 
longed  to  share;  and  his  quick-flowing  blood,  his 
bold  energy,  and  what  Winthrop  called  his  "  godly 
fervor,"  united  to  decide  him  to  quj't  England, 
cramped  in  forms  and  chained  in  wrorngs,  for  the 
young,  elastic,  unbounded  freedom  of  the  west  of 
the  Atlantic. 

Eoger  Williams   was   an   earnest    ?eeker  after 

*  Cited  in  Elliot,  vol.  1,  p.  190. 
t  Knowles'  Life  of  Eoger  Williams. 


ROGEK  WILLIAMS.  337 

truth.  Like  Robinson,  lie  smiled  at  the  idea  that 
the  acme  of  knowledge  had  been  reached.  He 
knew,  moreover,  that  his  goal  was  to  be  run  for  "  not 
without  toil  and  heat."  He  was  romantically  con- 
scientious ;  but  he  held  to  his  opinions  with  grim 
determination,  while  the  slowlj-ripening  principles 
of  the  English  revolution  of  1640  had  already 
flowered  in  his  brain.  Now,  in  New  England,  he 
longed  to  set  his  ideas  on  two  feet,  and  bid  them 
run  across  the  continent. 

Like  all  positive  characters,  the  young  Welch- 
man  speedily  attracted  attention  and  made  himself 
felt.  His  clear,  ringing  heel  had  scarce  sounded  in 
Boston  streets  ere  he  was  cordoned  by  friends  and 
surrounded  by  foes.*  His  opinions  were  novel; 
some  of  them  have  been  grafted  into  the  funda- 
mental law  of  our  Republic,  and  are  now  justly 
considered  the  palladium  of  religious  peace  ;  others 
are  still  unsettled  and  partly  unaccepted,  being  held 
by  certain  sects,  and  rejected  by  several  as  the  dis- 
jecta memhra  of  divinity;  but  to  the  Pilgrims  they 
were  alike  odious  and  revolutionary. 

But  the  principle  upon  which  hangs  his  immor- 
tality of  fame  is  that  of  complete  toleration.  "  He 
was  a  Puritan,  and  a  fugitive  from  English  persecu- 
tion," remarks  Bancroft,  "  but  his  wrongs  had  not 
clouded  his  accurate  understanding.  In  the  capa- 
cious recesses  of  his  mind  he  had  revolved  the 
nature  of  intolerance,  and  he,  and  he  alone,  had 
arrived  at  the  grand  principle  which  is  its  sole  effec- 
*  Knowles,  ut  antea.     Colony  Ref^ords,  C.  Mather,  etc. 

Filj;rim  Fathers.  15 


338  THE  PILGKIM  FATHEES. 

tual  remedy.  He  announced  his  discovery  under 
the  simple  proposition  of  the  sanctity  of  conscience. 
The  ciyil  magistrate  should  restrain  crime,  but  never 
control  opinion ;  should  punish  guilt,  but  never  vio- 
late the  freedom  of  the  soul.  The  doctrine  con- 
tained within  itself  an  entire  reformation  of  theo- 
logical jurisprudence  ;  it  would  blot  from  the  statute 
book  the  felony  of  non-conformity;  would  quench 
the  fires  that  persecution  had  so  long  kept  burn- 
ing ;  would  repeal  every  law  compelling  attendance 
on  public  worship ;  would  abolish  tithes  and  all 
forced  contributions  to  the  maintenance  of  religion ; 
would  give  an  equal  protection  to  every  form  of  reli- 
gious faith ;  and  never  suffer  the  authority  of  civil 
government  to  be  enlisted  against  the  mosque  of 
the  Mussulman,  or  the  altar  of  the  fire-worshipper  ; 
the  Jewish  synagogue,  or  the  Eoman  cathedral. 
It  is  wonderful  with  what  distinctness  Eoger  Wil- 
liams deduced  these  inferences  from  his  central 
tenet,  the  consistency  with  which,  like  Pascal  and 
Edwards,  those  bold  and  profound  reasoners  on 
other  subjects,  he  accepted  every  fair  inference 
from  his  doctrine,  and  the  circumspection  with 
which  he  repelled  every  unjust  imputation.  In 
the  unwavering  assertion  of  these  views  he  never 
changed  his  position;  the  sanctity  of  conscience 
was  the  great  tenet,  which,  with  all  its  conse- 
quences, he  defended  as  he  first  trod  the  shores  of 
New  England ;  and  in  his  extreme  old  age  it  was 
the  last  pulsation  of  his  heart.  But  it  placed  the 
young  emigrant  in  direct  opposition  to  the  whole 


EOGEE  WILLIAMS.  339 

system  on  wliicli  Massachusetts  was  founded ;  and 
forbearing  and  forgiving  as  was  liis  temper,  prompt 
as  be  was  to  concede  every  thing  which  honesty 
permitted,  he  always  asserted  bis  behef,  however 
unpalatable  it  might  be,  with  temperate  firmness 
and  an  unbending  benevolence."^  And  just  here, 
it  is  only  fair  to  add,  that  his  opponents,  on  their 
part,  usually  applied  their  principles  without  per- 
sonal animosity.  Between  Williams  and  his  great 
antagonist,  Cotton,  there  was  always,  in  their  most 
heated  moods,  a  substratum  of  cordial  resjiect,  while 
Winthrop,  though  consenting  to  the  banishment  of 
the  pioneer  American  reformer,  continued  his  fast 
friend  through  all.t 

This  principle  of  toleration,  together  with  sev- 
ral  other  obnoxious  tenets,  all  of  which  Williams 
avowed  with  frank  courage,  soon  brought  him  un- 
der the  frown  of  the  colonial  authorities — a  frown 
which  deepened  when  he  refused  to  unite  with  the 
church  at  Boston  "  because  its  members  would  not 
make  public  declaration  of  their  repentance  for 
having  communion  with  the  church  of  England 
before  their  emigration."^ 

This  declaration — and  the  same  thing  may  be 
said  of  several  of  his  tenets— looks  narrow  and  big- 
oted in  our  eyes ;  but  Roger  Williams  had  an  un- 
doubted right  to  cherish  his  own  views  under  the  very 
j)rinciples  which  he  first  of  all  men  in  America  pro- 

«  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  pp.  367,  368. 

t  Elliot,  vol.  1,  p.  188.    Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  406,  et  seq. 

I  Winthrop,  vol.  1,  p.  53. 


340  THE  PILGEIM  FATHERS. 

claimed,  that  "tlie  public  or  the  magistrate  may 
decide  what  is  due  from  man  to  man,  but  when  they 
attempt  to  prescribe  a  man's  duties  to  God,  they 
are  out  of  place,  and  there  can  be  no  safety;  for  it 
is  clear,  that  if  the  magistrate  has  the  power,  he 
may  decree  one  set  of  opinions  or  beliefs  to-day 
and  another  to-morrow;  as  has  been  done  in  Eng- 
land by  different  kings  and  queens,  and  by  different 
popes  and  councils  in  the  Koman  church ;  so  that 
belief  would  become  a  heap  of  confusion."* 

Be  this  as  it  may,  the  Pilgrims  came  to  regard 
Roger  Williams  as  a  dangerous  heresiarch ;  as  "un- 
settled in  judgment  ;"t  as  carrjnug  "  a  windmill  in 
his  head.":];  Indeed,  so  strong  was  this  feeling  that 
many  years  afterwards  Cotton  Mather  headed  his 
account  of  Williams'  advent,  in  the  "  MagnaHa," 
with  this  Latin:  "Hie  se  aperit  Dlaholus' — Here 
the  devil  shows  himself  § 

Under  these  circumstances,  we  may  easily  ima- 
gine the  consternation  which  reigned  in  Boston, 
when,  in  April,  1631,  it  was  rumored  that  Boger 
Williams  was  about  to  be  installed  in  the  vacant 
place  of  Francis  Higginson  at  Salem  as  assistant  to 
Mr.  Skelton.li  The  court  was  convened;  and  a  letter 
was  at  once  indited  to  John  Endicott,  "one  of  the 
chief  promoters  of  the  settlement,"  in  which,  says 
Winthrop,  the  judges  "  marvelled  that  he  should 
countenance  such  a  choice  without  advising  with 

*  See  "Williams'  "  Hireling  Ministry."        f  Bradford,  p.  310. 
X  Mather's  Magnaiia,  vol.  2,  p.  495.  §  Ibid. 

II  Winthrop,  Hubbard,  Mather's  Magualia,  Hutchinson. 


EOGER  WILLIAMS.  341 

tlie  Council ;  and  withal  desiring  him  to  use  his  in- 
fluence that  the  Salem  church  should  forbear  till  all 
could  confer  about  it."'^ 

In  that  day  good  ministers  were  not  common  in 
New  England ;  and,  moreover,  the  Salem  church- 
men liked  Williams ;  so,  without  heeding  the  remon- 
strance of  the  authorities,  they  proceeded  to  settle 
the  teacher  of  their  choice.  He  at  once  becfan  to 
preach ;  but  with  the  advance  of  summer  the  tem- 
per of  the  government  grew  hot  with  the  season, 
and  finally  he  decided  to  bid  Salem  farewell  and 
take  refuge  at  Plymouth. f  This  he  did,  being  soon 
after  elected  assistant  to  Ealpli  Smith.;|:  At  Plym- 
outh as  at  Salem,  he  made  many  friends,  and  Brad- 
ford bears  witness  that  he  was  "  a  man  godly  and 
zealous,  having  many  precious  parts."§  But  his 
"strange  opinions"  were  not  fully  approved;  and 
consequently,  when,  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Skelton, 
in  1633,  the  Salem  church  urged  their  truant  pastor 
to  return  to  them,  Williams  acceded.  He  was  dis- 
missed, as  Brewster  counselled,  from  the  Plymouth 
church,  but  was  followed  back  to  Salem  by  a  body- 
guard of  devoted  admirers,  "  who  would  have  no 
other  preacher."!! 

It  was  during  his  sojourn  at  Plymouth  that 
Koger  Williams  began  to  cement  that  famous  friend- 
ship with  the  Indians  which  was  one  day  to  stand 

*  Winthrop's  Journal,  pp.  63,  64. 

f  Knowles'  Life,  Savage  on  Winthrop,  Magnalia,  etc. 

t  Bradford,  p.  310.  §  Ibid. 

ll  Morton's  Memorial,  p.  151.     Bradford,  p.  310. 


342  THE  PILGKIM  FATHEES. 

him  in  such  good  stead  *  "  My  soul's  desire,"  he 
said,  "was  to  do  the  natives  good."t  And  later, 
when 

"  Declined 
Into  the  Tale  of  years," 

he  wrote  again :  "  God  was  pleased  to  give  me  a 
painful,  patient  spirit,  to  lodge  with  them  in  their 
filthy,  smoky  holes,  to  gain  their  tongue."!  In  this 
way  he  became  acquainted  with  Massasoit,  the  chief 
of  the  Wampanoags,  and  with  Canonicus  and  Mian- 
tonomoh,  the  sachems  of  the  Narragansetts,  among 
whom,  in  after-years,  he  sought  and  found  a  home. 

On  his  return  to  Salem  his  struggle  with  the 
government  recommenced.  While  at  Plymouth  he 
had  written  a  pamphlet  against  the  validity  of  the 
colonial  charter,  and  submitted  it  to  Bradford.§ 
Now  he  pitbhshed  it.  He  said:  "Why  lay  such 
stress  upon  your  patent  from  King  James  ?  'T  is 
but  idle  parchment :  James  has  no  more  right  to 
give  away  or  sell  Massasoit's  lands,  and  cut  and 
carve  his  country,  than  Massasoit  has  to  sell  James' 
kinodom  or  to  send  his  Indians  to  colonize  War- 
wickshire."|| 

Since  the  Pilgrims  had  legalized  their  title  to 
the  land  in  foro  conscienfue,  hj  actual  purchase  from 
the  aborigines,^!  it  is  somewhat  difficult  to  conceive 

*  Prince,  Elliot,  Banvard. 

t  Cited  in  Elliot,  vol.  1,  p.  199.     Banvard,  p.  160.       t  Ibid. 
§  Palfrey,  Knowles.     Wiuthrop,  vol.  1,  pp.  143,  144. 
11  Elliot,  vol.  1,  pp.  197,  198. 

IT  Knowles'  Life    of  Williams,    Mather's   Magnaiia,   Dwight's 
Tracts,  ante  chaps.  21  and  26,  pp.  260,  261. 


EOGEE  WILLIAMS.  343 

why  Williams,  already  staggering  under  a  load  of 
odium,  should  have  added  to  the  pack  by  a  decla- 
ration entirely  useless,  yet  certain  to  kindle  anger 
because  it  was  looked  upon  as  treason  against  the 
cherished  charter.* 

The  fact  should  seem  to  be  that  he  had  the  cei'- 
tariiinis  gaudia — the  joy  of  disputation;  common  to 
intellectual  gladiators.  Occasionally  this  got  the 
better  of  his  prudence ;  and  when  it  did,  like  a 
skilful  rider,  he  soon  recovered  the  reins  of  his 
caution  and  made  glad  amends.  On  this  occasion, 
he  confessed  his  penitence  for  the  ill  which  had 
arisen  from  the  unfortunate  polemic,  and  offered 
to  burn  the  manuscript  if  the  authorities  chose  to 
countenance  the  bou-fire.'!* 

Roger  Williams  next  pronounced  himself  upon 
an  exciting  local  question.  It  was  then  a  mooted 
point  at  Salem  whether  women  were  commanded 
to  appear  at  church  veiled.:]:  Singularly  enough, 
the  radical  Williams  said  Yes,  and  the  conservative 
Cotton  said  No ;  the  historic  opponents  for  once 
changed  places ;  and  Cotton,  going  to  Salem,  han- 
dled the  subject  so  convincingly  in  his  morning  ser- 
mon, that  the  ladies  came  to  church  in  the  afternoon 
unveiled ;  upon  which  "  Williams,  though  uncon- 
vinced, desisted  from  opposition."§ 

Behind  these  frivolities  were  graver  issues.     In 

•  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  p.  368. 

t  Winthrop,  vol.  1,  pp.  145,  146.     Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  409. 

X  See  1  Corintbiaus  11:5. 

§  Magnalia.     Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  409. 


344  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

1633,  trouble  seemed  brewing  between  EDglancl  and 
tlie  Pilgrim  colonists.  Charles,  Laud,  and  Strafford, 
had  hinted  at  a  "commission"  for  the  regulation  of 
the  non-conforming  American  plantations  ;  and  the 
Privy  Council  had  commanded  Cradock  to  order  the 
colonial  charter  home,  to  be  "regulated."  The  ex- 
president  of  the  Massachusetts  Company  did  write 
for  it  in  1G34,  and  in  1635  "quo  warranto"*  was 
issued.  But  the  provisional  authorities,  while  an- 
swering Cradock's  missive,  declined  to  return  the 

charter.t 

Affairs  looked  black  indeed.  Eesistance  was 
seriously  contemplated  ;  what  was  called  the  "  free- 
man's oath,"  which  bound  the  colonists  to  allegi- 
ance to  the  colony  rather  than  to  the  king,  was 
ordered  to  be  subscribed  throughout  Massachusetts 
Bay;  and  at  the  same  time  it  was  decided  to  "avoid 
and  protract."^  Nothing  prevented  England  from 
launching  her  cohorts  upon  the  plantations  but  the 
presence  of  those  home  troubles  which  now  began 
to  press  the  royalist  party  as  closely  as  the  ser- 
pents enveloped  Laocoon.  It  was  a  time  of  general 
anxiety,  and  men  cried  Hush !  and  held  their  breath 
to  see  what  should  next  occur. 

But  "  WilHams  could  not  keep  quiet  in  this 
seething  world,"  affirms  Elliot;  "nor  could  Endi- 
cott.     Both  of  them  saw  the  inevitable  tendencies 

*  A  writ  reqiiiring  a  person  to  show  by  what  right  he  is  doing 
a  special  thing. 

t  Elliot,  vol.  1,  p.  200.     Bancroft,  Hubbard. 
X  Ibid. ,  Hutchinson,  Knowles. 


ROGEE  WILLIAMS.  345 

of  the  Roman  church ;  and  feehiig  that  such  a 
church  was  dangerous  to  their  infant  liberties,  they 
decided  that  the  symbol  under  which  the  pope  and 
Laud  marched  should  not  be  their  symbol :  so  Eu- 
dicott  cut  the  cross  out  of  the  king's  colors.  At 
such  a  crisis,  when  the  aim  was  to  '  avoid  and  pro- 
tract,' this  audacious  act  of  course  made  trouble ; 
and  Endicott,  at  the  next  court,  was  '  sadly  admon- 
ished,' and  disabled  from  office  for  a  year.*  Wil- 
liams held  peculiar  views  respecting  oaths,  and  cited 
the  Scripture  command — '  swear  not  at  all.'  And  as 
the  freeman's  oath  clashed  witli  the  oath  to  the 
king,  he  also  spoke  against  that,  and  dissuaded 
some  from  taking  it."t 

Besides  this,  Eoger  "Williams  was  an  avowed 
democrat.  He  proclaimed  this  truth  :  "  Kings  and 
magistrates  are  invested  with  no  more  power  than 
the  people  intrust  to  them.":]:  And  he  said  again  : 
"  The  sovereign  power  of  all  civil  authority  is 
founded  in  the  consent  of  the  people."§  Kepubli- 
canism  was  the  logical  sequence  of  religious  lib- 
erty— came  from  it  as  naturally  as  the  bud  expands 
into  the  flower.  Yet  it  startled  the  Pilgrims.  They 
were  constantly  making  forays  into  the  domain  of 
absolutism.  They  never  scrupled,  Avhen  they  had  a 
chance,  at  clutching  popular  prerogatives.  They 
were  always  busy  in  enacting  democracy  into  law  ; 

*  Williams'  connection  with  this  act  is  but  distant  and  ob- 
lique, if  he  had  any.  See  Knowles,  Winthrop,  Hubbard,  Palfrey, 
etc.  t  Elliot,  vol.  1,  p.  201. 

t  Williams'  "Bloody  Tenet."  §  Ibid. 

15* 


346  THE  PILGRIM  FATHEES. 

but  thej  were  shocked  when  Roger  Williams  put  it 
into  propositions. 

"  Had  Cromwell  been  in  power  at  the  time,  with 
his  republican  bias,"  remarks  Felt,  "  these  senti- 
ments would  have  been  crowned  with  approbation  ; 
but  being  uttered  under  one  of  the  Stuarts,  they 
were  hissed  as  the  expression  of  sedition.  It  has 
ever  been  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  human 
policy,  that  principles  under  the  circumstances  of 
one  period  are  accounted  patriotism,  which  under 
the  circumstances  of  another  era  are  denounced  as 
treason. "■"''■■ 

Thus  it  was  that  the  theories  of  Eoger  Williams 
"  led  him  into  perpetual  collision  with  the  clergy 
and  the  government  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  It  had 
ever  been  their  custom  to  respect  the  church  of 
England,  and  in  the  mother-country,  they  had  fre- 
quented its  service  ;  yet  its  principles  and  its  admin- 
istration were  still  harshly  exclusive.  The  American 
reformer  would  hold  no  communion  with  intoler- 
ance ;  for,  said  he,  *  the  doctrine  of  persecution  for 
conscience'  sake  is  most  evidently  and  lamentably 
contrary  to  the  doctrine  of  Jesus  Christ.' 

"  The  magistrates  insisted  on  the  presence  of 
every  man  at  public  worship  ;  Williams  rej)robated 
the  law ;  the  worst  statute  in  the  English  code  was 
that  which  did  but  enforce  attendance  upon  the 
parish  church.  To  compel  men  to  unite  with  those 
of  a  different  creed,  he  regarded  as  an  open  viola- 
tion of  their  natural  rights ;  to  drag  to  public  wor- 
*  Felt's  Hist,  of  New  England,  A-ol.  1,  p.  175. 


KOGER  WILLIAMS.  347 

ship  the  irreligious  and  the  un-willing,  seemed  like 
requiring  hypocrisy.  '  An  unbelieving  soul  is  dead 
in  sin' — such  was  his  argument.  'And  to  force  the 
indifferent  from  one  worship  to  another,  is  like 
shifting  a  dead  man  into  several  changes  of  apparel.' 
He  added :  '  No  one  should  be  forced  to  worship, 
or  to  maintain  a  worship  against  his  own  consent.' 
'What!'  exclaimed  his  antagonists,  amazed  at  his 
tenets,  'is  not  the  laborer  worthy  of  his  hire?' 
'Yes,'  replied  he,  'from  those  who  hire  him.' 

"  The  magistrates  were  selected  exclusively  from 
the  church  members;  with  equal  propriety,  reasoned 
Williams,  might  'a  doctor  of  physic  or  a  pilot'  be 
selected  according  to  his  skill  in  theology  and  his 
standing  in  the  church.  It  was  objected,  that  his 
principles  subverted  all  good  government.  'Oh 
no,'  said  he  ;  '  the  commander  of  the  vessel  of  state 
may  maintain  order  on  board  the  ship  and  see  that 
it  pursues  its  course  steadily,  even  though  the  dis- 
senters of  the  crew  be  not  compelled  to  attend  the 
public  prayers  of  their  companions.'  "" 

The  Pilgrims  heard  all  this  aghast.  Soon  they 
wearied  of  discussion;  they  invoked  the  syllogism 
of  the  law  to  rebut  the  heresies  of  the  bold  de- 
claimer.  Williams  was  cited  in  1635,  to  appear 
before  the  General  Court  at  Boston,  for  examina- 
tion. Taking  his  staff  in  his  hand,  he  set  out. 
The  session  was  stormy.  Cotton  argued ;  others 
scolded;  Win throp  pleaded;  Endicott  was  wrenched 
away  from  Williams'  side ;  but  Williams,  while 
*  Bancroft,  vol.  3,  pp.  372,  373. 


348  THE  PILGKIM  FATHERS. 

maintaining  some  odd  opinions,  spoke  boldly  for 
God  and  liberty  that  day,  and  "maintained  the 
rocky  strength  of  his  grounds."* 

"To  the  magistrates  he  seemed  the  ally  of  a 
civil  faction  ;  to  himself  he  appeared  only  to  make 
a  fi-ank  avowal  of  the  truth.  The  scholar  who  is 
accustomed  to  the  x^ursuits  of  abstract  philosophy, 
lives  in  a  region  of  thought  quite  remote  from  that 
by  which  he  is  surrounded.  The  range  of  his  un- 
derstanding is  aside  from  the  paths  of  common 
minds,  and  he  is  often  the  victim  of  the  contrast. 
'T  is  not  unusual  for  the  world  to  reject  the  voice  of 
truth,  because  its  tones  are  strange  ;  to  declare  doc- 
trines unsound,  only  because  they  are  new ;  and 
even  to  charge  obliquity  or  derangement  on  a  man 
who  brings  forward  principles  which  the  average 
intelhgence  reixidiates.  'Tis  the  common  history; 
Socrates,  and  St.  Paul,  and  Luther,  and  others  of 
the  most  acute  dialecticians,  have  been  ridiculed  as 
drivellers  and  madmen. "f 

Eoger  WilHams  now  evinced  his  kinship  with  the 
martyrs  for  human  progress,  by  suffering  that  rejec- 
tion common  to  those  who  venture  to  project  their 
revolutionary  thoughts  from  the  front  of  a  century's 
advance.  Misunderstood  and  condemned,  he  was 
commanded  to  abjure  his  heresies  or  else  expect 
"  sentence."! 

Of  course,  he  could  not  reject  himself;  therefore, 

*  Winthrop,  Hutchinson,  Hubbard,  Kuowles,  Elton's  Life. 

f  Bancroft,  ut  antea. 

X  Winthrop,  Colonial  Eecords,  Knowles. 


ROGER  WILLIAMS.  349 

saying  with  Job,  "  Though  I  die,  I  will  maintain  m j 
integrity,"  he  uncovered  his  head  with  serene  pa- 
tience to  "  bide  the  pelting  of  the  pitiless  storm." 
The  thunderbolt  soon  feU.  The  church  at  Salem 
was  coerced  into  abandoning  the  immortal  pastor ; 
and  in  November,  1635,  he  was  ordered  "  to  depart 
out  of  the  jurisdiction  of  Massachusetts  Bay  within 
six  weeks  ;"*  a  sentence  which  is  said  to  have  been 
mainly  due  to  Cotton's  eloquence. t 

Finally,  Williams  was  permitted  to  remain  at 
Salem  until  the  following  spring,  as  the  season 
then  shivered  on  the  verge  of  winter.:]:  Then  the 
Pilgrims  grew  alarmed ;  the  reformer's  opinions 
were  contagious ;  they  thought,  after  all,  that  it 
would  be  best  to  send  Williams  home  to  England. 
A  ship  was  about  to  sail ;  a  warrant  was  issued ; 
officers  were  despatched  to  arrest  the  disturber  of 
that  Israel.  But  on  coming  to  his  house  and  open- 
ing the  door,  they  found  "  darkness  there,  and  noth- 
ing more."  Boger  Williams,  apprized  of  the  change 
of  purpose,  had  quitted  Salem  "  in  winter  snow  and 
inclement  weatlier."§  On,  on  he  pressed,  for  Laud 
and  the  Tower  of  London  were  behind  him.  With- 
out guide,  without  food,  without  shelter,  he  suffered 
tortures.  "  For  fourteen  weeks  I  was  sorely  tossed 
in  a  bitter  season" — so  he  wrote  in  the  evening  of 
his  life  —  "not  knowing   what   bread   or   bed  did 

*  Wintlirop,  Colony  Records,  Knowles. 

t  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  p.  377. 

I  Ibid.,  Hubbard,  Hutchinson. 

§  Knowles,  Elton's  Life,  Hutchinson,  etc. 


350  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEES. 

mean."*  "  But,"  said  he  sweetly,  "  the  ravens  fed 
me  in  the  wilderness  ;"t  and  he  often  made  his  hab- 
itation in  the  hollow  of  a  tree.  But  nothing  could 
daunt  him.     His  cheerful  faith, 

' '  Exempt  from  public  haunt, 
Found  tongues  in  trees,  books  in  the  running  brooks, 
Sermons  in  stones,  and  good  in  every  thing. " 

So  he  fled  on,  on,  through  the  snow,  the  darkness, 
the  dreary  forest;  "  fled  from  Christians  to  the  salv- 
ages, who  knew  and  loved  him,  till  at  last  he  reached 
the  kind-hearted  but  stupid  Indian  heathen  Massa- 

soit."t 

This  winter  banishment  of  Roger  Williams  was 
cruel  and  bigoted,  but  it  was  not  without  pallia- 
tion. He  had  run  a  tilt  against  the  law  and  order 
of  his  time ;  he  had  sneered  at  the  validity  of  the 
charter,  then  the  fundamental  law ;  he  had  im- 
peached the  theocracy ;  he  had  the  dangerous  ad- 
vantage of  being  personally  equipped  with  those 
gifts  which  win  and  "grapple  to  the  soul  with 
hooks  of  steel."  Every  motive  of  worldly  prudence 
seemed  to  dictate  banishment.  These  things  ex- 
tenuate, but  they  do  not  excuse  ;  because  we  are 
bound  to  impeach  an  untrue  order.  Paul  cried, 
"  God  is  God,"  and  trampled  wicked  laws  beneath 
his  feet.  The  catacombs  of  Pagan  Borne  were 
choked  with  mart^-rs  who  went  against  the  law  and 
order  of  their  time.  Huss  and  WicklifFe,  Latimer 
and  Bidley,  violated  law  precisely  as  Roger  Will- 

*  Eoger  Williams  in  Mass.  Hist.  Col.,  vol.  1,  p.  276. 

t  Ibid.  i  Elliot. 


EOGER  WILLIAMS.  351 

iams  did.  The  law-breaker  is  not  necessarily  im- 
moral and  a  pest.  Society  is  bound  to  see  that  the 
statute-book  does  not  fetter  the  human  conscience. 
If  society  is  recreant  to  its  duty,  individuals  must 
not  be  false  to  God.  Thereforej  in  this  matter  of 
opposing  the  colonial  law,  we  hide  Roger  Williams 
behind  the  apostles,  and  enclose  him  within  the 
leaves  of  the  New  Testament. 

After  months  of  vicissitude,  the  great  exile 
reached  the  shores  of  Narragansett  Bay,  and 
founded  Providence.  As  he  floated  down  the 
stream  in  his  canoe,  and  neared  the  site  of  the 
beautiful  city  born  of  his  piety,  the  Indians  shout- 
ed, "Wha-cheer,  friend;  wha-cheer?"  and  grasj^ed 
his  hand  with  cordial  sympathy  as  he  stepped 
ashore."'^  A  large  grant  of  land  was  easily  obtain- 
ed from  Canonicus  and  Miantonomoh — easily  ob- 
tained because  of  the  love  and  favor  which  they 
bore  him,  since  Williams  says  that  money  could 
not  have  bought  it  without  affection  and  confi- 
dence t — and  as  the  whole  domain  was  his,  he  might 
have  lived  as  lord-proprietor ;  but  principle  for- 
bade. "  On  the  hill  the  forests,  just  clothed  in 
their  full  leafage,  bowed  their  heads  to  this  fugi- 
tive, the  hero  of  a  great  idea,  and  whispered  '  Lib- 
erty!'"1: 

He  heeded  that  whisper,  and  dedicated  the 
infant  state  to  the  most  radical  idea  of  liberty;  so 
that  it  became  the  asylum  of  the  oppressed ;  and 

*  Knowles,  Elliot,  Judge  Durfee's  poem,  '•  What  Cheer?" 
t  Knowles,  p.  270.  %  Elliot. 


352  THE  PILGKIM  FATHERS. 

as  the  Hebrew  prophet  always  prayed  with  his 
window  ojDeu  towards  Jerusalem,  so  distressed  con- 
sciences, when  they  felt  the  sting  of  persecution, 
murmured,  Providence. 

Eoger  Williams  planted  a  democracy — a  gov- 
ernment of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the  peo- 
ple.* He  cemented  his  state  by  toleration.  "  The 
removal  of  the  yoke  of  soul-oppression,"  said  he, 
"  as  it  Avill  j)rove  an  act  of  mercy  and  righteousness 
to  the  enslaved  nations,  so  it  is  of  binding  force  to 
engage  the  whole  and  every  interest  and  conscience 
to  preserve  the  common  liberty  and  peace. "t 

So  it  proved ;  for,  spite  of  Cotton  Mather's  epi- 
gram, that  it  was  "  hona  terra,  mala  gens'' % — ^a  good 
land  and  a  wicked  people — it  increased  and  pros- 
pered from  the  outset,  justifying  the  motto  of  the 
commonwealth.  Amor  vincet  omnia.% 

While  Roger  Williams  believed  in  toleration,  he 
did  not  believe  in  license,  but  was  always  earnest 
for  liberty  regulated  by  law.  Thus  when  the  Rant- 
ers appeared  and  railed  against  all  order,  he  invoked 
the  judicial  arm  to  suppress  their  madness.H  But 
when  the  Quakers  invaded  the  state,  he  attacked 
them  only  with  syllogisms.  He  was  ardently  op- 
posed to  their  tenets ;  but  he  essayed  to  "dig  George 
Fox  out  of  his  burrows"  with  words  only,  and  re- 
turned a  stern  "No"  to  the  thrice-repeated  request 

*  Knowles,  p.  120.     Elton,  Hutchinsou. 

t  Cited  in  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  p.  371. 

%  Magualia,  vol.  1,  p.  497.         §  Love  ■w'ill  overcome  all  things. 

II  Winthrop,  Hutchinson,  Hubbard. 


EOGER  WILLIAMS.  353 

of  Massacliusetts  tliat  tliey  be  expelled  from  his 
jurisdiction.*  "  ^Ye  find,"  be  wrote,  "  that  where 
these  people  are  most  of  all  supposed  to  declare 
themselves  freely,  and  are  only  opposed  by  argu- 
ment, there  they  least  of  all  desire  to  come."t 

In  1643,  Williams  went  to  England  to  obtain  a 
charter  for  his  plantation.  He  "  found  all  in  a 
flame ;  civil  war  raging,  Hampden  just  killed, 
Charles  fled  from  London,  and  the  city  and  the 
government  in  the  hands  of  the  Parliament."  Here 
he  lived  on  intimate  terms  with  Sir  Harry  Vane 
and  Milton,  kindred  spirits,  who  were  doing  in 
England  what  he  had  done  in  America.  His  mis- 
sion  was  successful,  and  a  twelvemonth  later  he 
returned  to  Providence  with  a  liberal  patent,  the 
free-will  offering  of  jubilant  democracy  across  the 
water.:}: 

Eight  years  later,  under  the  Protectorate,  Eoger 
Williams  once  more  visited  England  on  colonial 
business ;  and  his  admission  and  recognition  among 
the  foremost  thinkers  of  the  time  were  general  and 
hearty.  The  acquaintance  with  Yane  and  Milton 
was  continued,  and  Marvell  and  Cromwell  were 
added  to  his  list  of  friends.§  But  his  heart  was  in 
America,  and  in  1654  he  came  back  to  Providence  ;ll 
whereupon  he  was  elected  president  of  the  cluster 
of  plantations  which,  in  after-days,  were  moulded 
into  the  little  state  of  Rhode  Island.1^ 

*  Knowles,  p.  295.         f  Elton,  p.  127.     Hutchinson,  Elliott, 
t  Ibid.     Knowles,  Hist.  Col.,  vol.  2,  p.  121.  §  Ibid. 

II  Ibid.  IT  Ehode  Island  Colony  Eecords. 


354  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEKS. 

For  many  3'ears  Williams  and  his  colony  were 
under  the  frown  of  their  brother  Pilgrims  ;  but 
through  it  all  they  bore  cheerily  up,  trusting  to 
God,  time,  and  success,  to  remove  all  prejudice, 
and  "  keeping  always  to  that  one  principle,  '  that 
every  man  should  have  liberty  to  worship  God 
according  to  the  light  of  his  own  conscience.'  "* 

Eoger  Williams  had  learned  that  most  difficult 
of  lessons,  to  return  good  for  evil.  He  never 
wearied  in  well-doing  ;  and  his  fine  tact,  broad 
statesmanship,  and  friendly  zeal,  on  more  than  one 
occasion  came  between  the  colonists  Avho  had  flung 
him  into  dishonorable  banishment  and  impending 
harm.t  With  the  Indians  he  was  singularly  influ- 
ential, and  frequently  his  presence  at  their  camp- 
fires  and  in  their  wigwams  served  to  explode  a  ma- 
turing conspiracy.^ 

On  the  Restoration,  an  event  occurred  whicli 
finely  illustrates  the  beautiful  text,  that  "  He  who 
goeth  forth  and  weepeth,  bearing  precious  seed, 
shall  doubtless  come  again  with  rejoicing,  bringing 
his  sheaves  with  him."  The  American  reiDublican 
had  been  the  Avarm  friend  and  coadjutor  of  Crom- 
well, and  Milton,  and  Pym.  When  Charles  II. 
came  to  the  throne,  all  looked  to  see  his  hand 
stretched  across  the  Atlantic  to  menace  and  chas- 
tise. It  was  outstretched,  but  only  to  bless ;  for 
the  foppish  Stuart  actually  renewed  the  charter 

*  Morton's  Memorial,  p.  154. 

t  See  Hutchinson,  vol.  1,  p.  38. 

X  Elton's  Life  of  Williams,  p.  54.     Knowles,  Wintlirop. 


EOCtEE  WILLIAMS.  355 

wliicli  the  wise  Protector  had  first  granted  to  the 
Providence  plantations.  He  paid  unconscious  hom- 
age to  the  principle  of  Eoger  Williams,  and  assented 
to  what  Gammel  calls  "the  freest  paper  that  ever 
bore  the  signature  of  a  king — the  wonder  of  the 
age."* 

Such  was  one  instance  of  the  influence  of  a  man 
whose  beneficent  career  is  at  once  an  example  and 
an  inspiration  ;  not  because  he  was  always  right  or 
always  wise,  but  because  he  was  always  true  to  his 
own  ideal.  Roger  Williams  was  the  initiator  of 
many  changes;  and  he,  first  of  all  in  America, 
boldly  framed  the  creed  of  democracy.  But  the 
brightest  jewel  in  his  crown  is  that  he,  taking  his 
life  in  one  hand  and  his  good  name  in  the  other, 
"  was  the  first  reformer  in  modern  Christendom  to 
assert  in  its  plenitude  the  doctrine  of  the  liberty  of 
conscience,  the  equality  of  all  opinions  before  the 
law.  At  a  time  when  Germany  was  the  battle-field 
for  all  Europe  in  the  implacable  wars  of  religion ; 
when  even  Holland  was  bleeding  with  the  anger 
of  vengeful  factions ;  when  France  was  still  to  go 
through  a  fearful  struggle  with  bigotry;  when  Eng- 
land was  gasping  under  the  despotism  of  intoler- 
ance ;  almost  half  a  century  before  William  Penn 
became  an  American  proprietary;  and  two  years 
before  Descartes  founded  modern  philosophy  on 
the  basis  of  free  reflection,"  Eoger  WilHams  de- 
manded the  enfranchisement  of  the  human  soul. 

"  We  praise  the  man  who  first  analyzed  the  air, 

*  Gammel,  p.  182. 


356  THE  PILGEIM  FATHERS. 

or  resolved  water  into  its  elements,  or  drew  the 
liglitning  from  the  clouds,  even  though  the  discov- 
eries may  have  been  as  much  the  fruits  of  time  as 
of  genius,  A  moral  principle  has  a  much  wider 
and  nearer  influence  on  human  happiness  ;  nor  can 
any  discovery  of  truth  be  of  more  direct  benefit  to 
society  than  that  which  establishes  perpetual  reli- 
gious peace,  and  spreads  tranquillity  through  every 
community  and  every  bosom. 

"  If  Copernicus  is  held  in  everlasting  reverence 
because,  on  his  death -bed,  he  published  to  the 
world  that  the  sun  is  the  centre  of  our  system ;  if 
the  name  of  Kepler  is  preserved  in  the  annals  of 
human  excellence  for  his  sagacity  in  detecting  the 
laws  of  planetary  motion ;  if  the  genius  of  Newton 
has  been  almost  adored  for  dissecting  a  ray  of  light 
and  weighing  heavenly  bodies  in  a  balance — let 
there  be  for  the  name  of  Koger  Williams  at  least 
some  humble  place  among  those  who  have  advanced 
moral  science,  and  made  themselves  the  benefactors 
of  mankind."* 

"  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  pp.  376,  377. 


A  UNIVERSITY  AND  A  STATE.        357 


CHAPTER   XXVIII. 

AN  ARRIVAL,  A  UNIVERSITY,  AND   A  STATE. 

"Three  things  are  of  the  first  imiDortance — good  men,  educa- 
tion, and  a  settk^d  commonwealth." 

LoKD  Bacon. 

Spite  of  internecine  struggle  and  transatlantic 
intrigue,  New  England  walked  steadily  on  in  the 
path  towards  material  prosperity.  It  was  inevita- 
ble; for  the  parents  of  success  were  within  her  bor- 
ders :  essential  godliness  was  in  her  right  hand,  and 
the  habit  of  thrift  was  in  her  left.  It  is  very  prob- 
able that  prosperity  was  helj^ed  instead  of  hindered 
by  the  agitation  which  was  begotten  of  the  official 
acts  of  the  colonial  government.  The  stir  served 
to  keep  Christendom  agog  for  the  latest  news  from 
America.  "What  are  these  Pilgrims  now  at?"  was 
the  inquiry  incessantly  on  every  lip.  Thus  it  was 
that  the  name  and  action  of  New  England  became  as 
prominently  familiar  in  the  salons  of  the  ultramon- 
tanists  in  Europe,  and  in  the  chib-rooms  of  the  riot- 
ous cavaliers,  as  in  the  humble  dwellings  of  the 
godly  Puritans. 

Besides,  agitation  in  its  turn  begot  progress. 
Where  there  is  silence  there  is  death.  If  the  Alps, 
piled  in  cold,  still  sublimity,  are  the  emblem  of  fat 
and  contented  despotism,  the  ocean  is  the  symbol 


358  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

of  democracy;  for  it  is  pure  and  useful  only  be- 
cause never  motionless. 

At  all  events,  the  progress  of  New  England  was 
unique  and  unprecedented.  "  Nee  minor  ah  exorcUo,'" 
says  Cotton  Mather,  "nee  oyiajor  incrementis  tdla."'^ 
Never  was  any  thing  more  lowly  in  inception  or 
more  mighty  in  increase.  In  1635,  twenty  ships 
dropped  anchor  in  Boston  and  Plymouth  harbors  ;t 
and  in  that  single  year  three  thousand  new  settlers 
were  added  to  the  Pilgrim  colonies.^  Men  came 
over  fast  and 

"Thick  as  autumnal  leaves  that  strow  the  brooks 
In  Vallambrosa,  where  the  Etruscan  shades, 
High  overarched,  imbower." 

And  these,  like  their  predecessors,  were  of  "  the 
best."§ 

With  them  landed  an  illustrious  trio— Ungh  Pe- 
ters, the  younger  Winthrop,  and  Sir  Harry  Vane.ll 
The  fiery  Peters  came  from  one  exile  to  another ; 
for  he  had  been  pastor  of  an  English  church  at  Bot- 
terdam.  He  was  an  enlightened  rejDublican,  public 
spirited,  prodigiously  energetic,  and  eloquent,  al- 
ready endowed  with  those  high  qualities  which  soon 
afterwards  pushed  him  into  prominence  in  the  Eng- 
lish civil  war  as  the  coadjutor  of  Cromwell,  the  jailor 
of  Charles  I.,  and  an  echoer  of  the  regicidal  ver- 
dict.! 


* 


Magnalia,  vol.  1,  p.  80.  f  Ibid.,  p.  136. 

J  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  p.  383,  §  Wiuthrop's  Journal. 

II  Ibid.,  Bancroft,  Elliot,  Palfrey,  Hutchinson.  They  landed 
in  October,  1635. 

IT  See  Encyclopedia  Americana,  Appleton's  Encyclopedia,  Eng- 
lish Encyclopedia. 


A  UNIYEESITY  AND  A   STATE.         359 

During  his  seven  years'  sojourn  in  New  England, 
Hugh  Peters  was  settled  at  Salem  as  the  successor 
of  Koger  AVilliams.*  At  once  his  restless  and  vari- 
ous activity  bubbled  over  into  works  of  utility.t 
He  was  minister,  he  was  politician,  he  was  facto- 
tum. He  saw  the  commercial  capabilities  of  Amer- 
ica, and  set  himself  to  develop  them.  He  "  went 
from  place  to  place,"  says  Winthrop,  "laboring 
both  publicly  and  privately  to  raise  men  up  to  a 
public  frame  of  spirit,  and  so  prevailed,  that  he 
procured  a  good  sum  of  money  to  set  on  foot  a  sys- 
tematic fishing  business.":]: 

The  younger  Winthrop  was  Hugh  Peters'  com- 
pagnon  de  voyage.  'Tis  related  of  a  son  of  Scipio 
Africanus  that,  proving  degenerate,  the  scofiing  Ro- 
mans forced  him  to  pluck  off  a  signet-ring  which  he 
wore,  with  his  father's  face  engraved  upon  it.  There 
was  no  occasion  for  such  public  discipline  in  this 
case,  for  young  Winthroj)  w^as,  in  Cotton  Mather's 
phrase.  Bonus  a  bono,  plus  a  pio,  the  son  of  a  father 
like  himself.  After  an  exemplary  and  studious  boy- 
hood, he  had  followed  the  elder  Winthrop  to  New 
England ;  where,  dowered  with  the  advantages  of 
extensive  travel  and  consummate  education,  he  had 
been  annually  elected  one  of  the  gubernatorial  as- 
sistants— an  honor  which  was  continued  even  when 
he  returned  to  Europe  for  a  space.§ 

He  now  camo  armed  with  the  authority  of  Lord 

*  Mafher's  Magnalia,  Palfrey,  etc. 

t  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  436.  J  Winthrop,  p.  170. 

§  Ibid.,  p.  173,  Palfrey,  Trumbull's  Hist.  Conn.,  Elliot. 


360  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

Say  and  the  "good   Lord   Brooke,"   the  original 
patentees  of  Connecticut,  to  plant  a  new  colony,  of 
wliicli  lie  should  be  governor.'^     "But  inasmuch  as 
many  good  people  from  Massachusetts  Bay  and 
Plymouth  had  already  taken  possession  of  a  part 
of  his  demesne,  this  courteous  and  godly  gentleman 
would  give  them  no  molestation ;  but  saying,  '  the 
land  is  broad,'  he  accommodated  the  matter  with 
them,  and  then  sent  a  convenient  number  of  men 
to  erect  a  town  and  fort  at  the  mouth  of  the  Con- 
necticut, which  he  called,  after  the  patrons  of  the 
enterprise,  Soy-hrook.     By  this   happy  action,  the 
planters  farther  up  the  river  had  no  small  kindness 
done  them  ;  while  the  Indians,  who  might  else  have 
been  even  more  troublesome  than  they  soon  proved, 
were  kept  in  some  awe."t 

Winthrop  was  one  of  the  few  early  Pilgrims  who 
had  been  graduated  at  a  university,  yet  was  not 
won  to  lay  aside  his  layman  garb  for  the  clerical 
robe.  "It  is  a  singular  fact,"  observes  Elliot,  "  that, 
possessed  as  he  was  of  scholarly  and  scientific 
tastes,  he  took  hold  resolutely  of  the  material  hfe 
of  his  plantation  at  Saybrook,  and  Avorked  to  shape 
it  well,  as  the  base  of  the  superior  structure  which 
he  meant  to  rear  upon  it.  He  a^jpreciated  what 
scholars  and  idealists  are  prone  to  forget,  the  prime 
value  of  a  good  material  foundation.  For  many 
years  he  was  chosen  governor  of  the  colony,  and  in 
that  position  he  gave  universal  satisfaction.     For 

*  Trumbull,  Mather's  Magnalica. 
t  Mather's  Magnalia,  vol.  1,  p.  158. 


A  UNIVERSITY  AND  A  STATE.         361 

his  vices  and  liis  enemies,  if  lie  had  either,  they  are 
forgotten. 

"  He  was  too  large  a  man  to  engage  in  the  per- 
secution of  the  Quakers,  which  he  always  opposed ; 
and  if  he  believed  in  witchcraft,  a  rank  superstition 
at  that  time  common,  it  was  as  a  query,  not  as  a 
fact.  His  leisure  hours  were  devoted  to  science ; 
and  his  contributions  to  the  old  '  Pioyal  Society  of 
London,'  of  which  he  was  an  early  member,  were 
highly  valued.  Indeed,  Boyle  and  other  scientific 
scholars  at  one  period  had  a  plan  for  joining  their 
fellow-student  in  the  New  World,  for  the  purpose 
of  pushing  their  investigations  of  natural  knowl- 
edge."* 

The  last  member  of  this  famous  group,  Sir  Har- 
ry Yane  junior,  was  at  this  time  but  twenty-three,t 
and  he  came  out  much  against  the  wishes  of  a  father 
who  stood  as  high  in  the  confidence  of  the  queen  of 
England  as  Strafford  did  in  the  affections  of  the 
king.:!:  "Let  him  go,"  said  Charles  to  the  per- 
turbed courtier,  when  he  learned  that  Harry  had 
,  turned  Puritan  and  proposed  to  emigrate — "  Let 
him  go;  my  word  for't,  he'll  soon  sicken  on't  and 
be  back,  if  you  give  him  consent  to  remain  in  those 
parts  for  three  years."§ 

So  the  devout  boy  embarked.  On  reaching  Bos- 
ton, he  Avas  saluted  with  enthusiasm.      His  high 

«  Elliot,  vol.  1,  pp.  249,  250. 

t  Palfrey,  Bancroft,  Hiibbard. 

f  Palfrey,  Wintlirop,  Elliot,  Bancroft. 

§  Mather's  Magnalia,  vol.  1,  p.  136. 

,         Vil^iim  F;itlii>.s.  16 


362  THE  PILGRIM  FATHEES. 

birth,  his  sacrifices,  his  Puritanism,  his  splendid 
talents,  every  thing  about  him,  served  to  enlist  the 
sober  Pilgrims  in  his  favor ;  and  this  effect  was 
heightened  by  his  personal  beauty,  singular  learn- 
ing, and  ingratiating  manners.*  As  the  Bostoni- 
ans  knew  him  better  they  liked  him  better ;  soon 
he  was  the  most  popular  man  in  the  colony ;  and 
in  1636  he  was  elected  to  fill  the  gubernatorial 
chair— elected  over  the  heads  of  Winthrop,  and 
Dudley,  and  the  elders  of  our  Israel,  which  they 
might  and  did  look  upon  as  a  freak  of  democratic 
strategy  quite  superfluous.t 

The  first  public  act  of  the  three  friends  was,  to 
placate  a  long  smouldering  feud  between  "VVinthrop 
and  Dudley.  "Winthrop  was  accused  of  over-leni- 
ency in  his  politics ;  Dudley  was  charged  with  un- 
due severity.  A  friendly  convention  was  held ;  the 
questions  at  issue  were  kindly  talked  over.  Vane 
and  Peters  counselled  mutual  forbearance ;  and  the 
quarrel  ended  with  a  "loving  reconciKation"  never 
afterwards  broken.:}: 

Some  little  time  after  Winthrop  and  Dudley, 
under  Vane's  auspices,  had  given  each  other  the 
kiss  of  peace  and  gone  home  arm  in  arm,  with  the 
fire  of  their  differences  definitively  quenched,  meas- 
ures were  matured  to  plant  a  college  in  New  Eng- 
land. Nothing  more  finely  exhibits  the  wisdom  of 
the  Pilgrim  Fathers  than  their  watchful  and  am- 
ple provision  for  education,  which  Bacon  has  fitly 
termed  the  "  sheet-anchor   of  peaceful   common- 

«  Elliot,  Ilnbbard.         f  IL.ia.         t  Winthrop.  pp.  177-179. 


A  UNIVEESITY  AND  A  STATE.         363 

wealths."  lu  their  estimation,  its  importance  was 
second  to  nothing  but  religion,  whose  handmaid 
it  was. 

They  longed  to  rear  a  race  of  cultured  men — to 
plant  a  school  which  should  elbow  out  of  America 
those  wicked  universities  which  were  then  the  pests 
of  Europe — vicious  sinks  which  Beza  called  Fla- 
hella  Satance,  Satan's  fans  ;  and  which  Luther  styled 
Cathedras  jxstilentice  et  antichristi  luminaria,  seats  of 
pestilence  and  beacons  of  antichrist ;  where,  under 
the  tuition  of  the  Jesuits,  immorality  was  made  a 
fine  art,  and  ferocity  was  taught  as  a  cardinal  virtue. 

With  this  two-fold  object,  a  public  school  was 
called  into  life  at  Cambridge  in  1636;  and  in  that 
same  year  the  General  Court  made  a  grant  of  four 
hundred  pounds,  wliicli  formed  the  legs  on  which 
the  infant  university  first  toddled."  Later,  John 
Harvard  bequeathed  eight  hundred  pounds  and 
his  library  to  help  forward  the  scholastic  venture  ; 
whereupon  the  grateful  authorities  eternized  the 
donor's  name  by  calling  the  school  Harvard  Col- 

LEGE.t 

Henceforth  New  England  had  a  "city  of  books." 
Harvard  college  speedily  became  a  nursery  of  piety, 
and  was  to  America,  as  Livy  said  of  Greece,  sal 
gentium:\.  In  narrating  this  achievement,  the  quaint 
divine  who  heaped  together  the  mingled  Avheat  and 
chaff  of  the  Magnolia,  cites  triumphantly  the  lan- 

*  New  England's  First  Fruits,  vol.  1,  Quincy's  Boston,  etc. 
•j-  Ibid.,  Hutchinson,  Hubbard,  Mather's  Magnalia. 
%  The  nation's  safety.     See  Magnalia,  vol.  2,  p.  1. 


364  THE  PILGKIM  FATHEES. 

guage  of  the  orator  who  chanted  pseans  to  the  Eng- 
lish Cambridge :  "  We  have  now  provided — and  let 
envy  be  as  far  removed  from  this  declaration  as  is 
falsehood — that  in  popular  assemblies  stone  shall 
not  talk  to  stone ;  that  the  church  shall  not  lack 
priests,  or  the  bar  jurists,  or  the  community  physi- 
cians ;  for  we  have  supplied  the  church,  the  govern- 
ment, the  senate,  and  the  army,  with  accomplished 
men.  * 

Thus  the  new  university  was  rightly  esteemed 
an  ornament  and  a  civilizer;  for  learning,  as  the 
poet  has  hj-mned  it, 

'■  Chastens  the  manuers,  and  the  soul  refines,  "f 

The  school  is  at  once  preserver  and  benefactor;  it 
is  nrhis  medicus,  the  physician  of  the  state. 

And  now  the  settlements  along  the  coast-line  of 
Massachusetts  were  become  "  like  hives  overstocked 
with  bees  ;  and  many  of  the  new  inhabitants  began 
to  entertain  the  thought  of  swarming  into  planta- 
tions farther  in  the  interior."  The  fifteen  thousand 
settlers  in  Massachusetts  felt  crowded.  They  longed 
to  imitate  the  Plymouth  Pilgrims,  who  had  sent  out 
a  forlorn  hope  to  colonize  Windsor,  and  the  venture 
of  the  younger  Winthrop  at  Saybrook.     They  too, 

longed 

"To  descry  new  lands, 
Rivers  and  mountains,  in  this  spotty  globe." 

As  early  as  1634,  Hooker's  parishioners,  at  Cam- 
bridge, had  petitioned  the  General  Court  to  permit 

«  See  Magnalia,  vol.  2,  p.  1. 

f  "  Emollit  mores,  nee  sinit  esse  feros."    Hoeace. 


A  UNIVEESITY  AND  A  STATE.         365 

tliem  "  to  look  out  either  for  enlargement  or  remov- 
al."* The  authorities  withheld  their  assent  at  the 
outset ;  but  when,  in  1636,  the  motion  was  renewed, 
they  said  Yes.t 

Hooker — whom  Morton  calls  "  a  son  of  thun- 
der"!— and  Hajnes  were  the  chief  promoters  of 
this  project  to  remove.§  The  winter  of  1635-6  was 
spent  in  active  preparation.  Scouting  parties  were 
thrown  forward.  In  tlie  opening  of  the  year,  Hart- 
ford was  settled,  government  was  organized,  civil 
order  was  established.il  At  the  same  time  pioneers 
went  out  from  Dorchester,  and  pushing  the  earlier 
Plymouth  settlers  from  the  ground,  usurped  AVind- 
sor  in  the  name  of  Massachusetts  Bay.T  Others 
quitted  Watertown,  and  sat  down  at  "Wethers- 
field  ;**  while  some  left  Roxbury,  and  were  en- 
churched  at  Springfield,  which  was  afterwards 
found  to  lie  within  the  boundary  of  the  old  Bay 
State.tt 

But  this  emigration  was  merely  preliminary  ;  it 
was  the  first  patter  of  the  coming  shower ;  it  was 
the  scouts  of  the  Pilgrims,  making  an  initial  survey 
of  the  new  Hesperia  of  Puritanism.  In  June,  1636, 
the  principal  caravan,  led  by  Thomas  Hooker  and 
John  Haynes,  began  its  march.     "  There  were  of 

'--  Wiuthrop.  p.  132. 

t  Ibid.,  Palfrey,  Bancroft,  Trumbull. 

t  Memorial,  pp.  239,  240. 

§  Trumbull,  "Winthrop,  Hutcliinson. 

]  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  p. 396. 

IT  Trumbull,  vol.  1.     Mather's  Magnalia,  vol.  1,  p.  81. 

*«  Bradford,  Hubbard,  Morton.         f  f  Magnalia,  ut  autea. 


366  THE  PILGEIM  FATHERS. 

the  company  about  one  hundred  souls,  many  of 
them  persons  accustomed  to  the  affluence  and  ease 
ot.Euroj)ean  life.  They  drove  before  them  numer- 
ous herds  of  cattle  ;  and  thus  they  traversed  the 
pathless  forests  of  Massachusetts,  advancing  hardly 
ten  miles  a  day  through  the  tangled  woods,  across 
the  swamps  and  numerous  streams,  and  over  the 
highlands  that  separated  the  intervening  valleys; 
subsisting,  as  they  slowly  wandered  along,  on  the 
milk  of  the  kine,  who  browsed  on  the  fresh  leaves 
and  early  shoots ;  having  no  guide  through  the 
nearly  untrodden  wilderness  but  the  com^jass,  and 
no  pillow  for  their  nightly  rest  but  heaps  of  stones. 
How  did  the  hills  echo  with  the  unwonted  lowing 
of  the  herds !  How  were  the  forests  enlivened  by 
the  fervent  piety  of  Hooker !  Never  again  was 
there  such  a  pilgrimage  from  the  sea.side  'to  the 
delightful  banks'  of  the  Connecticut."* 

The  Pilgrims  paused  at  Hartford,  which  the 
presence  of  Hooker  and  Haynes  soon  lifted  into 
the  foreinost  im^^ortance,  and  it  became  the  Jerusa- 
lem of  the  west.  The  government  was  similar  to 
that  which  Winthrop,  and  Endicott,  and  Cotton  had 
shaj^ed  at  Boston,  except  that  now  the  church-mem- 
bership test  was  omitted,  church  and  state  were 
half-divorced,  and  all  freemen  were  citizenst — lib- 
erality which  placed  the  new-born  state  close  beside 
the  Providence  plantations  in  magnanimous  catho- 
licity.    Indeed,  Haynes,  whose  plastic  hand  mould- 

=^  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  p.  396. 

f-  Palfrej',  Trumbull,  Bancroft,  Elliot,  etc. 


A  UNIVERSITY  AND  A  STATE.         367 

ed  the  primitive  constitution  of  Connecticut,  had 
gone  through  a  bitter  experience  in  the  trial  and 
banishment  of  Roger  WilHams ;  and  his  wiser  states- 
manship bade  him  beware  lest,  in  steering  clear  of 
the  Scylla  of  anarchy,  he  should  ground  his  politics 
Ion  the  Charybdis  of  bigotrj'.  His  wise  tact  saved 
him  from  both  perils,  and  enabled  him,  while  never 
interrupting  the  entente  cordiale  with  Massachusetts, 
to  open  a  friendly  intercourse  with  the  Rhode  Isl- 
and "  heretics."^ 

A  twelvemonth  after  the  arrival  of  the  Pilgrims 
at  Hartford,  the  pioneers  were  flanked  by  an  inva- 
sion of  brother  Puritans  fresh  from  England.  New 
Haven  was  planted ;  and  in  1637,  Guilford  was 
colonized,  and  then  Milford  was  settled. t  These 
were  independent  of  Connecticut,  and  for  upwards 
of  forty  years  formed  a  separate  colony,  called 
New  Haven. :j:  "  The  settlers,"  says  Cotton  Mather, 
*'  were  under  the  conduct  of  as  holy,  and  as  pru- 
dent, and  as  genteel  persons,  as  ever  visited  these 
nooks  of  New  England ;  and  though  they,  in  a  man- 
ner, stole  out  of  Britain,  being  forbidden  to  sail, 
yet  they  dropped  here  a  plantation  constellated 
with  many  stars  of  the  first  magnitude ;  for  if  The- 
ophilus  Eaton  and  John  Davenport  were  not  bla- 
zing lights,  where  shall  we  hunt  for  meteors  ?"§ 

The  New-Haveners  were  traders  ;  they  believed 
more  in  commerce  than  in  husbandry,  and  so  they 

«  Hubbard,  PaKrey,  EUiot,  Mather. 

f  Ti'umbuU,  vol.  1.     Hubbard,  Hist.  Col. 

I  Ibid.  §  Magnalia,  vol.  1,  p.  88. 


368  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

"  went  down  to  the  sea  in  ships."  But  in  the  wil- 
derness traffic  did  not  yield  the  dividends  Avhich  it 
gave  on  'change  in  London,  or  on  the  Rialtos  of  the 
world  ;  so  that  in  half  a  decade  their  stock  was 
spent,  and  they  so  nearly  touched  bottom  that  they 
gladly  turned  for  help  to  despised  agriculture,*  the 
surest  base  for  new  states  to  build  on. 

For  some  months  New  Haven  lacked  a  charter, 
and  so  floated  rudderless.  But  eventually  the  set- 
tlers formed  themselves  into  a  body  politic  by  mu- 
tual consent,  and  signed  a  kind  of  constitution  in  a 
barn;t  and  this  is  the  first  political  paper  that  was 
ever  cradled  in  a  manger.  It  was  generally  secun- 
dum usum  3Iassachusettensem,X  to  follow  Cotton  Ma- 
ther's barbarous  Latin;  or,  in  plain  EngHsh,  after 
the  model  of  the  Bay  State  theocracy. 

"  Thus  it  was,"  exclaims  a  jubilant  old  chroni- 
cler, "  that  Jesus  Christ  was  worshipped  in  churches 
of  an  evangelical  character  in  the  outermost  wil- 
derness; and  from  thence,  if  the  inquirer  were  in- 
clined to  make  a  sally  across  the  channel  to  Long- 
Island,  he  might  have  seen  the  congregations  of 
our  God  taking  root  in  those  wild  wastes."§ 

The  New  Haven  and  Connecticut  colonists  were 
for  many  years  on  the  verge  of  a  quarrel  with  the 
Dutch  at  New  Amsterdam,  who  felt  that  in  this 
territorial  race  they  had  been  outstripped  and  out- 
witted, and  were  consequently  lifted  out  of  their 

*  Hubbard,  p.  321.     Hazard. 

t  "The  settlers  met  in  Mr.  Newman's  barn,"  etc.     Elliot,  vol. 
1,  p.  242.  X  Magnalia,  vol.  1,  p.  83.  §  Ibid. 


A  UNIVEESITY  AND  A  STATE.         369 

wonted  phlegm  bj  irritation.  The  "Yankee"  and 
the  Dutchman  carried  on  a  lusty  war  of  words  about 
their  boundary  lines,  and  for  this  good  reason,  there 
were  none.  Irving  tells  us  that  the  Dutch  disliked 
the  smell  of  onions;  and  that  the  keen  Yankee, 
knowing  this,  planted  his  rows  each  year  a  little 
farther  west,  and  before  this  invasion  of  onions  the 
sad  Dutchman  always  retired  with  tearful  eyes,  leav- 
ing the  polluted  soil  to  the  onion  planters. 

But  bright  as  seemed  the  portents,  the  colonists 
soon  found  themselves  environed  by  danger— gir- 
dled by  a  wall  of  fire.  The  hostile  Dutchman 
scowled  in  the  west.  The  untrodden  wilderness 
stretched  away  on  the  north.  Scores  of  weary, 
pathless  miles  separated  them  from  their  brothers 
on  the  Atlantic  coast.  The  vengeful  Pequods  Avere 
panting  for  war  in  the  southeast.  They  had  found, 
not  peace,  but  a  sword;  their  painful  enterprise 
seemed  but  "a  lure  to  draw  victims  within  the 
reach  of  the  tomahawk,"  Premonitory  symptoms 
gave  warning  that  danger  lurked  in  the  covert  be- 
side every  log-house  beyond  the  mountains.  Soon 
the  woods  were  ambuscaded,  "  and  the  darkness  of 
midnight  began  to  glitter  with  the  blaze  of  the 
frontier  cabins."  Then  shrieked  the  ghastly  Pe- 
quod,  smeared  in  his  horrid  paint.  "  Fathers  found 
the  blood  of  their  sons  fattening  the  wasted  corn- 
fields ;  mothers  were  frozen  by  the  war-whoop  which 
disturbed  the  peaceful  slumber  of  the  cradle." 


IG* 


370  THE  PILGEIM  FATHERS. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

ON  THE   WAR-TEAIL. 

"  The  shoiit 
Of  battle,  the  barbarian  yell,  the  bray 
Of  dissonant  instruments,  the  clang  of  arms, 
The  shriek  of  agony,  the  groan  of  death. 
In  one  wild  iiproar  and  continued  din, 
Shake  the  still  air." 

Southey's  Madoc. 

'Tis  related  of  a  certain  keeper  of  wild  beasts  at 
Florence,  that,  after  he  had  entertained  the  specta- 
tors in  the  amphitheatre  with  their  encounters  on 
the  stage,  he  had  a  strange  device  for  forcing  them 
back  into  their  dens.  A  wooden  machine,  painted 
in  the  image  of  a  great  green  dragon,  with  two 
lighted  torches  protruding  from  its  sockets  as  eyes, 
and  vomiting  suljjhurous  flame,  was  wheeled  into 
the  midst  of  the  herd,  and  before  this  onset  the 
fiercest  animal  crawled  howling  to  his  cell. 

'T  is  an  emblem  of  despotism  ;  it  is  government 
coercing  men  by  fraud  and  fear,  by  appeals  to  the 
ignorant  and  brutish  instincts.  The  Pilgrim  Fathers 
took  a  long  stride  away  from  that  ugly  ideal.  They 
developed  a  nobler  type  of  civil  polity;  and  in 
nothing  was  their  temper  and  Christianity  more 
firmly  shown  than  iu  their  treatment  of  the  Indi- 
ans, whom  they  regarded  as  the  orphaned  wards  of 
civilization.     They  were  uniformly  gentle  and  obli- 


ON  THE   WAR-TKAIL.  371 

ging  to  the  savage  tribes,  and  they  were  invariably 
and  inflexibly  just  in  treatment  and  in  requisition. 
Take  this  for  an  illustration :  In  1636,  an  Indian  who 
had  been  on  a  trading  tour  to  the  pale-face  settle- 
ments, seated  himself  towards  evening  on  the  day 
of  his  return  in  the  woods  on  the  edge  of  a  swamp. 
■He  had  with  him  a  parcel  of  coats,  and  five  pieces 
of  wampum,  the  peaceful  trophies  of  his  barter. 
Soon  he  was  accosted  by  four  white  men  who  hap- 
pened to  pass.  A  friendly  chat  ensued  ;  the  pipe  of 
peace  was  passed ;  when  suddenly  the  whites  saw 
the  coats  and  the  wampum.  At  once  that  meanest, 
most  unscrupulous  imp  in  Satan's  brood,  the  devil 
of  avarice,  entered  their  hearts — avarice,  of  which 
Decker  has  said, 

"  When  all  our  sins  are  old  iu  us, 
And  go  upon  crutches,  covetousness 
Does  but  then  lie  iu  her  cradle." 

They  determined  to  assassinate  the  dusky  trader 
and  filch  his  goods.  Under  pretence  of  shaking 
hands  with  him,  one  of  the  ruffians  stabbed  him  in 
the  thigh ;  this  blow  was  followed  by  another,  and 
yet  another;  whereupon  the  death-smitten  savage 
fled.  The  murderers  also  departed;  and  when  they 
were  gone  the  Indian  crawled  back  from  his  forest 
hiding-place  and  stretched  himself  across  the  trail, 
that  he  might  be  discovered  and  receive  help. 

This  scene  was  enacted  at  Pawtucket,  near  Prov- 
idence, but  then  within  the  precincts  of  Plymouth 
colony.  Some  hours  after  the  affray,  Pvoger  Wil- 
Uams  learned  from   an  Indian  runner  that  some 


372  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

pale  faces  were  at  Pawtncket  almost  starved.  He 
at  once  sent  the  sufferers  food  and  spirits,  and  a 
cordial  invitation  to  visit  bis  cabin.  After  some 
delay  they  came,  enlisting  the  sympathy  of  their 
kind  host  by  a  pitiful  tale  of  loss  of  way  and  hunger 
in  the  forest.  Towards  ten  o'clock  all  retired.  At 
midnight  a  loud  cry  was  heard.  The  Indians  clam- 
ored at  the  door  for  admittance,  and  to  Roger  Wil- 
liams' queries  they  replied  by  informing  him  that 
one  of  their  brothers  lay  almost  dead  in  the  woods 
from  wounds  inflicted  by  a  party  of  pale-faces. 
"Have  you  seen  them?"  they  shouted. 

Meantime,  the  murderers,  awakened  by  the  cries, 
had  fled.  They  were  pursued,  and  three  of  the  four 
were  captured,  and  arraigned  for  trial  at  Plymouth. 
A  jury  was  empannelled,  and  among  the  twelve 
"good  men  and  true"  were  Bradford,  and  Standish, 
and  Prince,  and  Winslow."-  No  delay  was  suffered, 
but  the  trial  was  fair  and  ojien.  The  guilt  of  the 
assassins  was  clearly  proved,  and  they  Avere  sen- 
tenced to  be  hung.f  Three  limp  forms  suspended 
from  the  gallows-tree  a  little  later,  gave  most  pal- 
pable evidence  that  justice  covered  even  the  tangled 
wilderness  morasses  Avith  its  aegis.  It  was  as  cer- 
tain death  to  kill  an  Indian  in  the  forests  of  Amer- 
ica, as  to  slay  a  noble  in  the  crowded  streets  of 
London. 

The  effect  of  this  execution  was  salutary.  Its 
strict  impartiality  pleased  the  shrewd  red  men.     It 

■^  Bradford,  Morton's  Memorial,  Thatcher,  Banvard. 
t  Ibid. ,  Priuce,  Hazard. 


ON  THE  WAR-TEAIL.  373 

convinced  them  of  the  certainty  of  the  colonial  pro- 
tection. And  kindred  acts  before  had  won  them  to 
surrender  that  most  prominent  trait  in  their  habits, 
the  evenging  of  their  personal  wrongs ;  they  ad- 
journed their  injuries  to  the  justice  of  the  Pilgrim 
courts  and  invoked  the  statute,  sure  that 

"  The  good  need  fear  no  law  ; 
It  is  his  safety,  and  the  bad  man's  awe." 

But  now  this  old  epoch  was  buried  :  a  new  one 
dawned.  The  Indian  surveyed  the  in-coming  pale- 
face tide  which  seemed  always  to  flow  and  never  to 
ebb.  The  hunting  grounds  of  his  people  began  to 
disappear.  His  own  domain  was  restricted — there 
was  no  longer  free  range.  A  farm  was  here ;  a 
clearing  was  there  ;  3'onder  stdod  a  settler's  cabin. 
The  "medicines"  of  the  red  men  grew  alarmed. 
They  asked  each  other:  "Where  will  this  end?" 
To  be  sure,  the  settlers  held  their  estates  by  pur- 
chase ;  but  the  Indians  did  not  always  understand 
the  value  of  a  bargain  from  which  they  reaped  no 
benefit ;  nor  did  they  at  all  times  recognize  the  va- 
lidity of  contracts  made  by  their  sachems,  perhaps 
without  the  knowledge  of  the  tribe,  and  which  alien- 
ated the  forest  acres  of  their  immemorial  inherit- 
ance. 

Heated  by  memory  and  by  fear,  and  kindled  by 
some  occasionally  unfriendly  acts  of  the  colonists^ — 
for  in  so  large  a  population  it  was  impossible  that 
all  should  be  just  and  honest — many  of  the  New 
England  tribes  grew  restless  and  peevish.  A  human 
powder  magazine  yawned  beneath  the  feet  of  the 


374  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

Pilgrims ;  it  needed  but  some  bold  baud  to  drop 
tbe  spark  to  cause  an  explosion  which  might  un- 
hinge a  continent. 

This  the  Pequods  essayed  to  do.  They  had  long^ 
been  fretful.  The  Connecticut  colonists  had  be- 
friended a  rival  and  hated  tribe,  the  Mohegans." 
Sassacus,  the  sachem  of  the  Pequods,  and  Uncas, 
the  Mohegan  sagamore,  were  at  deadly  enmity.f 
Yet  Uncas  Avas  the  frequent  and  welcome  occupant 
of  pale-face  cabins  from  Providence  in  the  east  to 
the  farthest  onion  rows  which  troubled  the  Dutch- 
men in  the  west.  The  Pequods  panted  for  revenge. 
They  began  to  intrigue  for  a  war  of  extermination. 
Embassies  were  despatched  to  inveigle  neighboring- 
tribes  into  an  alliance  against  the  ever-encroaching 
pale-faces.  At  the  camp-fires  of  the  Wampanoags, 
and  in  the  wigwams  of  the  Narragansetts,  the  Pe- 
quod  orators  pleaded  their  wrongs,  sneered  at  the 
whites,  and  dejDicted  the  ferocious  pleasures  of  the 
war-path  to  many  a  credulous  and  eager  listener. 

The  forests  became  pregnant  with  insurrection, 
and  at  last  a  faint  whisper  of  the  impending  peril 
reached  the  settlements.  White  Massachusetts  shiv- 
ered. Sir  Harry  Yane,  knowing  the  influence  of 
Roger  Williams  with  the  Indians,  wrote  him  urgently 
to  balk  the  Pequod  embassadors  among  the  Narra- 
gansetts.:]: At  once  the  founder  of  Rhode  Island  set 
out;  alone  in  his  canoe,  through  a  cutting,  stormy 

*  Increase  Mather's  Early  Hist,  of  New  England,  p.  121,  et 
seq.  f  Ibid, 

X  Elton's  Life  of  Roger  Williams,  p.  54. 


ON  THE  WAR-TKAIL.  375 

wind,  he  pulled  across  the  bay  to  the  forest  haunt 
of  Canonicus  and  Miantonomoh.* 

"  The  Pequod  diplomats  were  already  at  work, 
urging  the  dark  dangers  which  hung  over  their  uni- 
ted tribes,  reiterating  the  tale  of  the  encroachments 
of  the  whites,  the  chicanery,  the  insolence,  the  cru- 
elty, which  some  had  j^ractised,  and  aj^pealing  to  the 
Indian  pride  of  possession  and  of  race.  For  three 
days  and  nights  Roger  Williams,  in  the  sachem's 
lodge,  mixed  with  the  bloody-minded  Pequod  em- 
bassadors, and  pushed  his  dangerous  opposition  to 
the  war  ;  and  at  last  his  old  friendship  and  superior 
diplomacj^  prerailed.  Canonicus  and  Miantonomoh 
repudiated  the  Pequod  league  and  refused  to  dig  up 
the  tomahawk. "t 

The  Pequods,  no  whit  disheartened  by  this  balk, 
determined  to  fight  unassisted,  thinking,  perhaps, 
that  the  precipitation  of  hostilities  would  fire  the 
Indian  heart. 

Sassacus,  followed  by  seven  hundred:{:  painted 
and  yelling  warriors,  plunged  into  the  woods  and 
opened  the  war-path.  Winding  out  of  their  beauti- 
ful nest  in  southeastern  Connecticut,  between  the 
rivers  Pawcatuck  and  Thames,§  they  spread  con- 
sternation and  the  most  ghastly  form  of  death 
north,  east,  south,  west. 

According  to  their  habit,  the  Indians  were  cau- 

«  Elton's  life  of  Roger  Williams,  p.  54.     Elliot,  vol.  1,  p.  210, 
t  EUiot. 

I  I.  Mather's  Early  Hist.,  etc.    Palfrey,  Bancroft,  Elliot,  Hutch- 
inson §  Ibid. 


S76  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

tious  at  tlie  outset.  Isolated  instances  announced 
tlieir  hostility.  In  1634,  Captains  Stone  and  Nor- 
ton sailed  up  tlie  Connecticut  in  a  coasting  smack, 
manned  by  a  crew  of  eight  men.  They  were  steer- 
ing for  a  Dutch  trading  station  on  the  river  side, 
when  their  vessel  was  becalmed.  In  a  flash  a  fleet 
of  canoes  were  launched  from  either  bank  of  the 
river,  and  a  swarm  of  savages  surrounded  the 
smack.  Suspecting  no  danger,  twelve  of  them  were 
permitted  to  board,  and  Stone  engaged  two  of  these 
to  pilot  a  boat  higher  up  the  stream.  The  guides 
at  night  murdered  the  two  sailors  in  charge  of  this 
shallop,  and  at  the  same  hour  their  companions  on  the 
vessel  assailed  the  sleeping  creAv.  Stone  was  killed 
secretly  in  his  cabin,  and,  to  conceal  the  body,  a 
light  covering  was  thrown  over  it.  Then  the  mas- 
sacre extended  to  the  deck  and  forecastle.  Soon 
all  were  dead  save  Norton.  "  He  had  taken  to  the 
cook-room  on  the  first  alarm,  and  here  he  made  a 
long  and  resolute  defence.  That  he  might  load  and 
fire  with  the  greatest  expedition,  he  placed  powder 
in  an  open  bowl,  just  at  hand,  which,  in  the  hurry 
of  action,  taking  fire,  so  burned  and  blinded  him 
that  he  could  fight  no  longer ;  whereupon  he  too 
was  tomahawked."*     Then  the  smack  was  pillaged 

and  sunk.t 

Tv/o  years  later,  John  01dham,:j:  while  trading 
fairly  on  the  Connecticut,  was  suddenly  set  upon 

«  "Wliite's  Incidents,  p.  59.     I.  Mather,  Palfrey,  Hubbard,  Wiu- 
tbrop.  t  IbitL 

i  Chap.  17,  p.  215,  et  seq. 


ON  THE  WAE-TEAIL.  377 

and  brained.  His  companions,  two  Narragansett 
Indians  and  a  couple  of  boys,  were  kidnapped." 

A  few  days  after  this  sad  catastrophe,  an  old 
English  sailor,  John  Gallup,  floating  on  the  tranquil 
bosom  of  the  treacherous  river  in  his  little  shallop 
of  twenty  tons,  manned  only  by  himself,  his  two 
sons,  and  one  old  salt,  espied  Oldham's  pinnace  off 
Block  Island.  He  tacked  for  it  and  hailed.  No 
answer ;  a  closer  survey  showed  him  a  deck  crowded 
with  Indians.  Gallup's  suspicion  was  aroused,  and 
when  the  clumsy  savages  attempted  to  make  sail 
and  get  away,  he  regarded  the  movement  as  a  cover 
to  foul  pla3\ 

Then  one  of  the  most  remarkable  instances  of 
gallantry  recorded  in  the  annals  of  border  warfare 
occurred.  Gallup,  with  his  single  sailor  and  his  two 
little  boys,  armed  only  with  a  couple  of  rusty  mus- 
kets, two  pistols,  and  some  buck-shot,  prepared  for 
action,  and  this  though  fourteen  savages,  heated  by 
carnage  and  drunk  with  blood,  stood  ready  with 
guns,  and  pikes,  and  swords,  to  repel  his  assault. 
The  wind  was  fresh,  and  the  audacious  captain 
steered  directly  for  the  pinnace,  and  striking  it  stem 
foremost,  nearlj^  upset  it ;  which  so  frightened  the 
Indians  that  six  of  them  jumped  overboard  and 
were  drowned.  Eepeating  this  manoeuvre — in  un- 
conscious imitation  of  the  Athenian  naval  tactics — 
he  came  stem  on  again ;  for  there  w^ere  still  too 
many  Indians  for  him  to  venture  to  carry  the  pin- 
nace by  boarding.  After  this  thump,  Gallup  had 
*  Bradford,  Morton's  Memorial,  Hubbard,  White. 


378  THE  PILGRIM  FATHEES. 

the  satisfaction  of  seeing,  as  lie  cleared  his  vessel 
and  stood  off  once  more,  four  more  savages  leap 
into  a  watery  grave — for  they  all  sank.  Then  he 
steered  for  the  battered  craft  for  the  third  time ; 
whereupon  the  remaining  Indians  sought  refuge  in 
the  hold  beneath  the  hatches.  Gallup  sprang  on  the 
deck  of  poor  Oldham's  vessel,  and  there,  stretched 
out  before  his  eyes,  was  the  late  owner  himself,  still 
warm,  but  with  cloven  skull  and  amputated  hands 
and  feet." 

The  savages  in  the  hold  were  now  anxious  to 
surrender.  Two  of  them  at  Gallup's  bidding  came 
up  and  were  bound;  and  then,  maddened  by  the 
sight  of  Oldham's  disfigured  corpse,  the  sailor 
plunged  the  victims  into  the  river.  The  two  re- 
maining savages  would  not  give  up  their  arms  or 
come  up  from  under  the  hatches.  Gallup  could  not 
dig  them  out ;  so  he  secured  the  cargo,  buried  Old- 
ham, and  then  tying  the  pinnace  to  the  stern  of  his 
own  victorious  shallop,  he  set  sail  to  tow  her  to  the 
settlements.  But  in  the  night  it  blew  hard ;  his  cap- 
ture was  detached,  and,  drifting  to  the  Narragan- 
sett  shore,  the  secreted  warriors  escaped — two  only 
out  of  fourteent — a  swift  and  sweeping  retribu- 
tion. 

The  knowledge  of  these  dismal  tragedies  crept 
slowly  into  the  colonies.  News  was  carried  only  by 
some  coastwise  vessel,  whose  progress,  crab-like,  was 
backwards ;  by  some  Indian  runner  often  interested 
in  being  sluggish ;  or  by  some  pale  sufierer  who,  trav- 

*  Winthrop,  pp.  189,  190.  f  Palfrey,  White,  Elliot,  etc. 


ON  THE  WAE-TEAIL.  379 

ersing  forest,  morass,  and  mountain,  was  frequently 
his  own  messenger  of  woe  ;  for  the  Pilgrims  had  no 
stage-coaches  like  their  immediate  descendants ;  no 
good  roads,  like  the  men  of  '76  ;  no  railway  and  no 
steamboat,  like  ourselves ;  and  above  all,  no  tele- 
graph, annihilating  space,  to 

"  Speed  the  swift  intercourse  from  soul  to  soul, 
Or  waft  a  sigh  from  Indus  to  the  Pole. " 

But  eventually  the  colonists  learned  of  these  spas- 
modic outrages  ;  and  all  promptly  decided  that  jus- 
tice and  the  common  weal  ahke  dictated  punishment. 
"After  consultation  with  'the  magistrates  and  min- 
isters,' Sir  Harry  Vane  despatched  ninety  men  down 
Long  Island  sound,  in  three  small  vessels,  to  the 
seat  of  war — Block  island.  The  expedition  was 
under  the  chief  command  of  John  Endicott,  who 
was  assisted  by  four  subordinate  officers,  one  of 
whom.  Captain  John  Underhill,  wrote  an  account 
of  the  foray  and  of  the  succeeding  and  more  effec- 
tive one.  A  sort  of  Friar  Tuck  —  devotee,  bravo, 
libertine,  and  buffoon  —  Underhill  takes  a  mem- 
orable place  among  the  eccentric  characters  who 
from  time  to  time  broke  what  has  been  altogether 
too  easily  assumed  to  have  been  the  dead  level  of 
New  England  gravity  in  those  days.  He  had  been 
a  soldier  in  Ireland,  in  Spain,  and  more  recently 
in  the  Netherlands,  where  he  '  had  spoken  freely 
with  Count  Nassau.'  He  came  over  withWinthrop, 
who  employed  him  to  train  the  Pilgrims  in  military 
tactics."* 

*  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  pp.  458,  459. 


330  THE  PILGRIM  FATHEES. 

The  expedition,  spite  of  Endicott's  skill  and  Un- 
derbill's bravery  and  the  number  of  men  engaged 
in  it,  was  an  essential  failure.  A  few  savages  were 
shot ;  some  lodges  were  burned ;  several  canoes 
were  staved ;  and  a  number  of  acres  of  corn  were 
despoiled.  Indeed,  just  enough  was  done  to  mad- 
den the  savages,  but  not  enough  to  intimidate 
them.* 

In  the  summer  of  1636,  Endicott  sailed  into  Bos- 
ton harbor  in  bloodless  triumph.  Meantime,  his  irri^ 
fating  raid  was  revenged  by  a  wide-spread  assault 
upon  the  isolated  Connecticut  colonists.f  Every 
tree  became  a  covert.  In  the  long  grass,  in  the  mo- 
rasses, in  the  out-buildings  of  the  settlers,  lurked 
the  envenomed  savages.  To  step  outside  those 
block  citadels  to  which  all  flocked  for  safety,  was 
certain  death.  Men  were  kidnapped  and  roasted 
alive.l  Traders  were  waylaid  on  the  rivers  and  tor- 
tured to  death  ;  and  two  victims  especially  were  cut 
into  two  parts  lengthwise,  each  half  being  hung  up 
on  a  tree  by  the  bank  of  the  Connecticut. §  Women 
and  children  were  captured  and  reserved  for  a  fate 
worse  than  death.  In  the  winter  of  1637,  thirty 
of  the  two  hundred  settlers  who  had  colonized 
Connecticut,  fell  beneath  the  hatchets  of  the  Pe- 
quods.ll  Everywhere  the  whites  were  worsted  ;  even 
at  Saybrook,  their  chief  fort,  the  garrison  was  held 

*  Palfrey,  vol.  1.  j^p.  458,  459.      I.  Mather,  Prince,  Introduc- 
tion to  Mason's  Hist,  of  the  Pequod  War.  f  Ibid. 
t  Gardiner's  Pielations,  etc.,  in  Mass.  Hist.  Kep. ,  23. 
§  Ibid.,  p.  143.     TrumbuU's  Hist.  Connecticut,  vol.  1,  p.  76. 
II  PaUrey,  vol.  1,  p.  462.  " 


ON  THE   WAE-TEAIL.  381 

in  duress  by  a  besieging  band  of  demoniacal  red 
men.* 

New  England  was  trembling  on  the  verge  of 
death.  For  the  distressed  and  harassed  Pilgrims 
there  seemed  no  alternative  but  speedy  extermina- 
tion, or  such  an  exercise  of  courage  and  skill  as 
should  effectually  overawe  the  Indians  in  the  full 
flush  of  their  success.  Measures  were  at  once  ma- 
tured. Massachusetts  Bay  acted  with  her  accus- 
tomed vigor.  It  was  declared  that  "  the  war,  since 
it  was  waged  on  just  grounds  and  for  self-preserva- 
tion, ought  to  be  vigorously  prosecuted."!  Six  hun- 
dred pounds  were  levied;  one  hundred  and  sixty 
men  were  recruited. | 

At  Plymouth  similar  activity  was  displayed ;  and 
a  levy  of  forty  men  was  made.§  But  it  was  in  Con- 
necticut, the  menaced  spot,  that  the  most  herculean 
exertions  were  put  forth.  Hartford,  Windsor,  and 
Wethersfield,  placed  ninety  men  in  the  field,  under 
the  command  of  stout  John  Mason — a  sometime 
soldier  in  the  Loav  Countries  under  Sir  Thomas 
Fairfax,  who  held  him  in  such  esteem  that  in  after- 
years,  when  at  the  head  of  the  parliamentary  mus- 
ter, he  wrote  his  truant  jjvotege  urging  his  return  to 
England,  that  he  might  lend  his  skilful  sword  to  the 
patriot  cause. II 

Mason,  with  Hooker's  benediction,  immediately 

*  I.  Mather,  Gardiner  iu  Mass.  Hist.  Col.,  23. 

f  Mass.  Hist.  Col.     Col.  Eec,  vol.  1,  p.  192.  X  Ibid. 

§  Plym.  Col.  Eec,  vol.  1,  pp.  60-62. 

II  Palfrey,  ut  antea.     Prince.     Introduction  to  Mason's  Hist, 


382  THE  PILGRIM  FATHEES. 

opened  a  Tigorous  campaign.  Saybrook  was  rein- 
forced," A  subsidiary  detachment  of  Moliegans, 
nnder  Uncas,  was  recruited.t  The  mouth  of  the 
Connecticut  was  made  the  base  of  operations,  and 
thither  the  united  levies  of  Massachusetts,  Con- 
necticut, and  Plymouth,  were  transported.  Here  a 
council  of  war  was  held.  After  Stone,  the  chap- 
lain, had  sought  the  divine  direction  in  prayer,  it 
was  decided  to  march  directly  upon  the  Pequod  vil- 
lage off  Point  Judith.:]:  All  embarked ;  the  objec- 
tive point  was  safely  reached.  Then  a  storm  inter- 
vened; it  was  impossible  to  land.  The  next  day 
was  Sunday ;  it  was  spent  devoutly  on  shipboard ; 
nor  was  it  until  Tuesday  evening,  the  third  day 
after  they  had  dropped  anchor,  that  the  eager  Pil- 
grims touched  land.§ 

Mason  bivouacked  on  the  sea-shore,  and  in  the 
gray  of  the  next  morning  commenced  the  memora- 
ble march.  "  Seventy-seven  brave  Englishmen — 
the  rest  were  left  in  charge  of  the  vessels — sixty 
frightened  Mohegans,  and  four  hundred  more  terri- 
fied Narragansetts,  entered  the  war-trail,  and  went 
twenty  miles  westward  towards  the  Pequod  coun- 
try, to  a  fort  occupied  by  some  suspected  neutrals. 
There  a  pause  for  the  night  was  made,  and,  lest  any 
Indian  should  give  the  doomed  Pequods  the  alarm, 
the  citadel  was  girt  by  the  sentries  of  the  shrewd 
English  captain. "li 

*  Mason's  "  Brief  Hist. ,  etc.     Hubbard. 

t  Trumbull,  Mather.  J  Palfrey,  vol.  1. 

§  Ibid.,  Hubbard,  Trumbull,  Mather. 

II  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  164. 


ON  THE   WAK-TEAIL.  383 

Before  noou,  on  the  following  morning,  tliey 
broke  camp,  and  marched  fifteen  miles  farther 
inland,  pausing  at  nightfall  under  a  hill  "which, 
according  to  information  received  from  their  dusky 
allies — who  had  now  all  fallen  in  the  rear,  'being 
possessed  with  great  fear' — stood  the  chief  strong- 
hold of  the  Pequods.""' 

Mason  could  hear  the  savage  revelry  of  the  ill- 
fated  and  unsuspecting  Indians  very  distinctly,  as 
the  wind  wafted  the  laughter,  the  yells,  the  vaunts, 
from  the  village  over  the  little  hill.  '  The  din  sank 
and  fell  till  midnight.  All  were  enjoying  a  general 
guifaw  over  the  English,  w^liose  ships  they  had  seen 
sail  eastward  on  the  sound,  bearing,  as  they  ima- 
gined, the  j3ale-face  warriors  to  tell  their  squaws  of 
their  discomfiture.'!' 

The  Pequod  fort  was  a  citadel  of  straw.  It  "was 
merely  a  circular  acre  or  two  enclosed  by  trunks  of 
trees  some  twelve  feet  high,  set  firmly  in  the  ground, 
and  so  closely  ranged  as  to  exclude  entrance,  while 
the  interstices  served  as  port-holes  for  marksmen. 
Within,  ranged  along  two  parallel  lanes,  were  up- 
wards of  seventy  wigw^ams,  covered  with  matting 
and  thatch.  At  the  two  points  for  entrance  or 
egress,  spaces  were  left  between  the  timbers,  the 
intervals  being  protected  only  by  a  slighter  struc- 
ture, or  by  loose  branches.":': 

Something  of  all  this  the  curious  eyes  of  the 
Pilgrims  took  in  as  they  patiently  waited  for  the 

*  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  465.  f  Ibid.,  Mason,  UuderMU. 

J  Palfrey,  lit  antea. 


384  THE  PILGEIM  FATHERS. 

midnight  order  to  adA-ance.  At  length  it  came ; 
the  camp  was  broken ;  prayers  were  offered ;  the 
Indian  alhes  fell  back  to  a  still  safer  distance.  The 
drowsy  Pequod  stronghold  was  surrounded;  Mason 
was  on  one  side,  Underhill  was  on  the  other.  Cau- 
tiously the  girdling  band  crept  on,  on,  on,  towards 
the  sally-ports,  looking  like  sheeted  phantoms  in  the 
ghastly  moonlight.  Their  hands  were  on  the  gates, 
Avhen  a  dog  barked.  The  Indians  were  aroused. 
"  Owanux  !  Owanux!"  "The  Englishmen  are  here  !" 
came  in  a  hoarse  shout  from  within.  Then,  with  a 
wild  "  Huzza!"  the  Pilgrims  plunged  themselves  like 
an  avalanche  upon  the  frail  and  creaking  fortress, 
firing  the  straw  in  fifty  different  directions.  The 
rest  was  death ;  for  it  was  not  a  battle — it  was  a 
massacre.  Shouting  the  watchwords -of  the  Israel- 
ites in  Canaan,  the  Pilgrims  smote  the  Pequods  hip 
and  thigh,  for  they  knew  that  safety  and  peace 
dwelt  in  every  blow — that  severity  was  mercy. 

Soon  the  explosion  of  a  powder- train  made  the 
village  kick  the  heavens.  Then  the  flames  began 
to  wink,  and  at  last  to  go  out.  Darkness  followed — 
a  darkness  made  more  frightful  by  the  moans  of  the 
wounded,  the  fierce  panting  of  those  wretches  who 
still  struggled  against  fate,  and  the  vindictive  yell 
of  the  Mohegan  and  Narragansett  warriors,  now  in 
full  cry  after  the  dazed  and  despairing  fugitives.* 

At  last  the  sad  morning  dawned.  The  dead  bod- 
ies of  seven  hundredt  Pequods  were  counted  amid 

*  Mason's  Brief  Account,  etc. 

t  Ibid.,  Palfrey.  Elliot,  I.  IMather,  AVintlirop,  Hi;Lbard,  Hutch- 


ON  THE  WAB-TRAIL.  385 

the  debris  of  the  carnage.      There  k\y  the  whole 
nation, 

"  In  one  red  burial  blent." 

But  let  us  turn  from  the  sickening  scene.  "Nev- 
er was  a  war  so  just  or  so  necessar}',"  remarks  Pal- 
frey, "  that  he  who  should  truly  exhibit  the  details 
of  its  prosecution  would  not  find  the  sympathy  of 
gentle  hearts  deserting  him  as  he  proceeded.  Be- 
tween right  policy  and  the  suffering  which  some- 
times it  brings  upon  individuals,  there  is  a  wide 
chasm,  to  be  bridged  over  b}^  an  argument  with 
which  the  heart  does  not  naturally  go.  "When,  for 
urgent  reasons  of  public  safety,  it  has  been  deter- 
mined to  take  the  desperate  risk  of  sending  the 
whole  available  force  of  a  community  into  the  field 
to  encounter  desperate  odds,  and  certain  to  be  set 
on,  if  worsted,  by  neutral  thousands,  the  awful  con- 
ditions of  the  venture  forbid  daintiness  in  the  means 
of  achieving  the  victory,  or  about  using  it  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  veto  the  chance  of  incurring  the  same 
peril  again.  At  all  events,  from  the  hour  of  that 
fatal  carnage  Connecticut  was  secure.  There  could 
now  be  unguarded  sleep  in  the  long-harassed  cab- 
ins of  the  settlers.  It  might  be  hoped  tliat  civiliza- 
tion was  assured  of  a  permanent  abode  in  New  Eng- 
land."* 

Mason  followed  up  his  victory,  like  an  able  sol- 
dier as  he  was.     After  the  fatal  night  attack,  Sas- 

iuson.     Two  of  the  English  were  killed,  and  upwards  of  forty- 
more  than  half  of  the  force — were  wounded. 
•  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  467. 

PilBrim  Fiitliers.  i  I 


386  THE  PILGEIM  FATHERS. 

sacus  and  the  remnant  of  liis  undone  tribe  fled 
westward.*  They  were  overtaken,  and  forced  to 
fight  in  a  swamp  and  in  a  panic.  Then  there  was 
another  massacre ;  and  two  hundred  prisoners  were 
captured,  besides  a  booty  of  trays,  kettles,  and  wam- 
pum.t  The  Pequod  chieftain  once  more  baffled 
fate,  and  with  a  body  of  twenty  warriors  sought  an 
asylum  among  the  Mohawks,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Hudson,  where  the  unhapp}'  sagamore,  bereaved  of 
people  and  of  country,  was  himself  treacherously 
slain,  his  scalj)-lock  being  sent  as  a  trophy  to  the 
pale-face  conquerors.^ 

At  the  same  time  two  other  chiefs  were  hunted 
down  at  a  point  east  of  New  Haven.  Here  they 
were  beheaded;  and  the  spot — now  a  famous  sum- 
mer resort — has  been  called  since  that  day  "  Sa- 
chem's Hcad."§ 

It  is  sad  to  relate  that  this  awful  slaughter  was 
crowned  by  the  enslavement  of  the  wretched  sur- 
vivors of  the  fight.  When  Mason  returned  to  Hart- 
ford, bringing  the  retinue  of  his  command  with  him, 
Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  needing  laborers, 
and  blind  to  the  injustice,  divided  the  human  booty ; 
and  with  Rhode  Island,  which  purchased  some  of 
the  victims,  they  must  share  the  guilt.H  But  in  this 
the  Pilgrims  did  not  sin  against  the  spirit  of  their 
age.     It  was  not  an  insurrection  against  the  con- 

*  Mason,  Hubbard,  Hazard,  Trumbull.  f  Ibid.,  EUiot. 

J:  Trumbull,  Mason,  Winthrop,  Hist.  Coll. 

§  Elliot,  vol.  1.  p.  257.     Trumbull. 

II  Ibid.     Hutchinson,  vol.  1,  p.  80.    Winthrop,  vol.  1.    Palfrey. 


ON  THE  WAE-TEAIL.  387 

science  of  that  epoch,  for  the  flagitious  practice  was 
universah  Human  slavery  had  not  yet  been  brand- 
ed as  infamous  amid  the  scornful  execrations  of 
mankind. 

Thus  in  death  and  captivity  closed  the  career  of 
a  gallant  tribe.  They  threw  themselves  before  the 
chariot-wheels  of  progress,  and  were  crushed ;  they 
essayed  to  check  God,  and  were  overthrown.  Like 
ancient  Agag,  they  were  hewn  in  pieces.  In  its 
first  w^arlike  bout  with  barbarism,  civilization  was 
the  victor,  and  went  crowned  with  bays. 


388  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 


CHAPTEE   XXX. 

DE   PEOFUNDIS. 

"We  have  strict  statutes  and  most  biting  laws, 
The  needful  bits  and  curbs  to  headstrong  steeds." 

Shakspeaee. 

The  Pilgrim  Fatliers  were  not  students  of  Gode- 
fridus  de  Yalle's  odd  book,  ''  De  Arte  Nihil  Cre- 
dendV — The  Art  of  believing  Nothing.  They  did 
believe,  from  the  bottom  of  their  hearts;  and,  in 
obedience  to  Paul,  they  strove  to  "hold  fast"  that 
which  they  esteemed  "good."  They  had  two  pas- 
sions, devotion  to  the  common  weal  as  citizens,  and 
to  the  interests  of  the  church  as  Christians.  "  They 
regarded  themselves,  not  as  individual  fugitives 
from  trans- Atlantic  persecution,  but  rather  as  con- 
federates in  a  political  association  for  religious  pur- 
poses."* From  this  idea  their  mixed  government 
naturally  evolved;  and  this,  in  its  turn,  gave  birth 
to  the  principle  that  the  magistrate  was  armed  with 
power  to  suppress  all  phases  of  internal  opposition 
to  the  theocracy;  because  that  type  of  authority 
logically  carried  in  its  train  the  necessary  condi- 
tions of  its  perpetuity. 

They  neither  invited  nor  desired  the  intrusion 
of  elements  at  variance  with  their  ideas;  and  to 
such  they  said,  pointing  to  the  broad  continent, 

*  Uhden's  New  England  Theocracy,  \).  135. 


DE  PKOFUNDIS.  389 

"  There  is  room ;  leave  us  in  j)eace."  Aud  to  se- 
cure tliemselves  from  molestation,  it  was  enacted, 
in  1637,  that  "  none  should  be  received  into  the  ju- 
risdiction of  Massachusetts  Bay  but  such  as  should 
be  welcomed  by  the  magistrates"* — a  provision 
somewhat  analogous  to  the  alien  law  of  England 
and  to  the  European  policy  of  passports.f 

Singularly  enough,  Massachusetts  Baj',  spite  of 
its  exclusive  policy,  possessed  from  the  very  outset 
a  strong  charm  in  the  eyes  of  those  who  dissented 
from  its  formulas.  Like  the  Petit  Monsieur  who 
found  himself  left  out  of  the  tapestry  which  exhib- 
ited the  story  of  the  Spanish  invasion,  they  longed 
to  work  themselves  in  the  hangings  of  colonial  his- 
tory. They  soon  swarmed  in  Boston  and  Salem ; 
and  notwithstanding  the  banishment  of  Koger  Will- 
iams, the  "heretics"  continued  to  thrive. 

Ere  long  the  public  mind  "  was  excited  to  intense 
activity  on  questions  which  the  nicest  subtlety  only 
could  have  devised,  and  which  none  but  those  expe- 
rienced in  the  shades  of  theological  opinion  could 
long  comprehend ;  for  it  goes  with  these  opinions 
as  with  colors,  of  which  the  artist  who  works  in 
mosaic  easily  and  regularly  discriminates  many 
thousand  varieties,  where  the  common  eye  can 
discern  a  difference  only  on  the  closest  compari- 
son.":}: 

From  this  fermentation  there  bubbled  up  a  pro- 
found and  bitter  struggle.     The  strife  filled  the  in- 

*  "Winthrop,  Hiitcliinson,  Hubbard,  Col.  Eocords,  etc. 

t  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  p.  389.  %  Ibid.,  p.  386. 


390  THE  PILGRIM  FATHEES. 

terstices  of  the  Pequod  war,  whose  prosecution  it 
sadly  crippled;  and  indeed,  at  one  time  it  threat- 
ened to  rend  the  colony  by  civil  war.-' 

Two  distinct  parties  were  early  developed.  One 
was  composed  chiefly  of  the  older  colonists,  headed 
by  Dudley,  and  Phillips,  and  Wilson,  and  Win- 
throp,  an  able  coalition  of  clergymen  and  politi- 
cians. These  were  earnest  to  jDreserve  the  state 
as  it  was.  They  discountenanced  innovation,  and 
"  dreaded  freedom  of  opinion  as  the  parent  of  vari- 
ous divisions."  They  said,  "  These  cracks  and  flaws 
in  the  new  building  of  the  Reformation  portend  a 
fall,"t  They  were  anxious  "  to  confirm  and  build 
up  the  colony,  child  of  their  prayers  and  sorrows; 
and  for  that  they  desired  patriotism,  union,  and  a 
common  heart."  They  dreaded  change,  because 
they  knew  that, 

"Striving  to  better,  oft  we  mar  what's  well." 

The  other  party  was  iconoclastic.  It  was  "  com- 
posed of  men  and  women  who  had  arrived  in  New 

> 

England  after  the  civil  government  and  religious 
discipline  of  the  Pilgrims  had  been  established."; 
They  felt  cramped  under  the  theocracy ;  and  hav- 
ing come  self-banished  to  the  wilderness  to  enjoy 
toleration,  they  resisted  every  form  of  despotism 
over  the  human  mind,  and  "  sustained  with  intense 
fanaticism  the  paramount  authority  of  private  judg- 
ment." "They  came,"  observes  Bancroft,  "fresh 
from  the  study  of  the  tenets  of  Geneva,  and  their 

*  TJlide}!,  Winthrop,  Hutcliinson,  Hubbard. 

t  Shepherd's  Lamentation,  2.         J  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  p.  387. 


DE  PEOFUNDIS.  391 

pride  consisted  iu  following  the  principles  of  the 
Keformation  with  logical  precision  to  all  their  con- 
sequences. Their  ejes  w^ere  not  primarilj^  directed 
to  the  institutions  of  Massachusetts,  but  to  the  doc- 
trines of  its  religious  system ;  so  to  them  the  colo- 
nial 'clergy  seemed  '  the  ushers  of  a  new  persecu- 
tion,' 'a popish  faction,' who  had  not  imbibed  the 
principles  of  Christian  reform ;  and  they  applied  to 
the  influence  of  the  Pilsfrim  ministers  the  doctrine 
which  Luther  and  Calvin  had  employed  against 
the  observances  and  pretensions  of  the  Eoman 
church."^' 

There  is  an  old  Latin  proverb, 

"Nulla  fere  causa  est,  in  qua  non  fgemiiia  litem 
Moverit."f 

The  life  and  soul  of  the  crusade  against  the  the- 
ocracy was  Anne  Hutchinson,  whom  Johnson  styled, 
"  the  chiefest  masterpiece  of  woman's  wit.":|:  An- 
tedating the  Cordays,  the  Rolands,  and  the  De 
Staels  by  more  than  a  dozen  decades,  she  was  the 
equal,  in  tact,  and  zeal,  and  honest  conviction,  of 
the  best  of  those  brilliant  women  who,  in  the  salons 
of  the  French  capital,  inspired  the  revohition  of  1793. 

Anne  Hutchinson  was  the  wife  of  a  Boston  mer- 
chant, the  daughter  of  a  Puritan  preacher  in  Eng- 
land, and  had  been  one  of  John  Cotton's  most  de- 
voted parishioners  ere  he  was  driven  into  exile. § 

*  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  p.  387. 

t  There  are  few  controversies  where  a  woman  is  not  at  the 
bottom  of  them.  %  See  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  p.  388. 

§  Palfrey,  vol.  1.  p.  472,  et  seq. 


392  THE  PILGKIM  FATHERS. 

In  1634  slie  followed  that  eminent  divine  to  Amer- 
ica, and  was  received  into  his  church  at  Boston,* 
spite  of  some  strange  theories  which  she  had  avoAved 
on  shipboard.t  Her  active  benevolence  and  unflag- 
ging kindness  to  the  sick  soon  wedded  to  her  many 
hearts.:};  She  planted  herself  deep  in  the  affections 
of  the  city. 

The  male  members  of  the  Boston  church  had  a 
habit  of  taking  notes  of  the  sermon  on  Sunday,  and 
then  holding  week-day  meetings  for  the  recapitula- 
tion and  discussion  of  the  doctrines  advanced§ — 
a  very  commendable  practice.  Mrs.  Hutchinson, 
thinking  perhaps  that  woman's  influence  and  intel- 
lect were  not  sufficiently  recognized  in  the  church, 
inaugurated  a  similar  series  of  week-day  conventi- 
cles for  the  ladies  of  Boston.il 

Mrs.  Hutchinson's  lectures — for  she  was  ever 
the  chief  sjDeaker — attracted  crowds,  and  they  were 
countenanced  by  Sir  Harry  Yane,  who  then  occu- 
pied the  gubernatorial  chair,  and  by  his  host,  John 
Cotton  ;\  below  whom  stood  a  crowd  of  warm  ad- 
herents, flanked  by  John  Wheelwright  the  clerical 
brother-in-law  of  the  lady  sj^eaker,  and  by  the  hearty 
influence  of  John  Coddington  one  of  the  wealthiest 
of  the  colonists.**  "Thus  the  women,"  says  Cot- 
ton Mather,  "  like  their  first  mother,  hooked  in  the> 
husbands  also."tt 

*  Winthrop,  vol.  1,  p.  200.  f  Ibid.,  Hubbard. 

I  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  p.  473.         §  Ibid.     Magnalia,  vol.  2,  p.  516. 

j]  Ibid. ,  Elliot,  Hutchiuson,  Uhdeu. 

IT  Palfrey,  Winthrop,  Elliot,  Hubbard,  etc. 

**  Ibid.,  Col.  Kecords.  ft  Magnalia,  vol.  2,  p.  509. 


DE  PEOFUNDIS.  393 

Soou  the  vigorous  and  daring  mind  of  Anne 
Hutchinson  struck  off  new  watchwords.  Much  was 
said  of  a  "  Covenant  of  Works  "  and  a  "  Covenant 
of  Grace,"  and  between  these  many  fine  distinctions 
were  made.  "  Under  these  heads  she  and  her 
friends  classified  the  preachers  of  the  Bay.  Those 
who  were  understood  to  rely  upon  a  methodical 
and  rigid  observance  of  their  religious  duties  as 
evidence  of  acceptance  with  God  were  said  to  be 
'under  a  covenant  of  works.'  Those  who  held  to 
certain  spiritual  tenets  M-ere  ranged  '  under  the 
covenant  of  grace.'  These  phrases  began  to  be 
banded  to  and  fro.  '  Justification'  and  'sanctifica- 
tion '  were  in  all  mouths  ;  even  children  jeered  each 
other;  and  there  was  no  stemming  the  heady  cur- 
rent of  discussion  as  it  swept  on."- 

Winthrop  and  his  coadjutors  looked  upon  the 
debate  with  equal  horror  and  alarm.  Two  words, 
which  were  then  common,  expressed  to  them  a 
vague  but  frightful  danger ;  Antinomianism  was 
one,  and  Familism  was  the  other.  The  Antinomi- 
ans  Avere  a  sect  of  German  extraction,  and  their 
name  meant  against  the  Laiv ;  for  they  held  that 
"  the  gospel  of  Christ  had  superseded  the  law  of 
Moses."t  But  the  w^ord  had  been  made  the  shelter 
of  sad  excesses  and  many  base  acts,  so  that  it  was 
in  bad  odor  among  the  Pilgrims,  who  esteemed  Anti- 
nomianism to  be  a  cloak  to  cover  the  naked  form 
of  license.:}: 

Familism  had  been  nursed  into  vicious  life  in 

♦  Elliot,  vol.  1,  p.  2G3.  t  Ibid.  %  Ibid. 

11* 


894  THE  PILGKIM  FATHERS. 

Holland  ;  where,  in  1555,  Henry  Nicholas  formed  a 
"  Family  of  Love,"  who,  in  their  opinions,  "  grieved 
the  Comforter,  charging  all  their  sins  on  God's 
Spirit,  for  not  effectiially  assisting  them  against 
themselves."*  The  Familists  had  long  been  numer- 
ous, factious,  and  dangerous,  in  England,  and  their 
practice  was  even  worse  than  their  doctrine ;  for 
their  laxity  of  morals  made  them  the  sappers  of 
social  order.f 

Anne  Hutchinson  does  not  seem  to  have  been 
inoculated  with  the  virus  of  Familism ;  but  she  was, 
of  course,  an  Antinomian,  since  she  assailed  the 
theocratic  law;  and  therefore,  to  the  heated  minds 
of  the  Pilgrims,  she  might  easily  appear  to  be  the 
fleshly  tabernacle  of  both — the  incarnation  of  her- 
esy. 

Meantime  the  debate  grew  in  bitterness.  Mrs. 
Hutchinson,  when  taunted  with  Familism  and  Anti- 
nomianism,  retorted  by  nicknaming  her  foes  Legal- 
ists ;  "because,"  she  said,  "you  are  acquainted  nei- 
ther with  the  spirit  of  the  gospel  nor  with  Christ 
himself.":}:  Boston  echoed  the  phrase  with  wild 
delight,  and  "Legalist!  Legalist!  Legalist!"  was 
dinned  into  the  ears  of  the  clergy  of  the  Bay. 

Winthrop  and  his  friends  were  exasperated,  and 
they  invoked  the  courts  to  interfere.  Several  of  the 
Antinomians  were  heavily  fined.§  "Wheelwright, 
who,  in  a  fast-day  sermon,  had  strenuously  main- 

*  Fuller's  Cli.  Hist,  of  EuglancT,  vol.  2,  pp.  514,  515,  et.  seq. 
'-  Ibid.  X  Uhden,  p.  98. 

§  Winthrop,  vol.  1,  p.  203.     Hubbard,  Palfrey,  Hazard. 


DE  PROFUNDIS.  395 

tainecl  the  Autinomiau  tenets,  was  formally  cen- 
sured by  the  General  Court  for  sedition.* 

Then  the  innovators  were,  in  their  turn,  angered. 
"  The  fear  of  God  and  the  love  of  neighbors  was 
laid  by ;"  Mrs.  Hutchinson  and  her  adherents  clam- 
ored all  the  louder ;  and  Vane,  disgusted  and  dis- 
pirited, tendered  his  resignation,  and  craved  per- 
mission to  return  to  England ;t  but  "the  expostu- 
lations of  the  Boston  church  finally  turned  him  from 
his  design,"  and  kept  him  at  his  post.:|: 

Meanwhile  Wheelwright,  provoked  at  his  cen- 
sure, had  appealed  to  England.  This  wrecked 
Vane's  administration,  and  ruined  the  Antinomian 
cause;  for  the  patriotic  feeling  of  the  colony  ran  so 
high,  that  "it  was  accounted  x^erjury  and  treason  to 
appeal  to  the  king."§  In  the  elections  of  1G37  pub- 
lic opinion  was  made  manifest;  Winthrop,  with  the 
towns  and  the  churches  at  his  back,  outvoted  Vane, 
whose  sole  support  was  Boston,  and  the  fathers  of 
the  colony  once  more  grasped  the  lielm.H 

Winthrop  originated,  enacted,  and  defended  the 
alien  law.l  This  found  in  Vane  an  inflexible  oppo- 
nent ;  and,  using  the  language  of  the  time,  he  left  a 
memorial  of  his  dissent.  "  Scribes  and  Pharisees, 
and  such  as  are  confirmed  in  any  way  of  error" — 
these  are  the  remarkable  words  of  the  man  who 
soon  embarked  for  England,  where  he  afterwards 

*  Wintliro)).  vol.   1,  p.  203.     Hubbard,  Palfrey,  Hazard,  Col. 
Records.  f  Palfrey,  vol.  1,  pp.  475,  476.     Winthrop. 

j:  Ibid.  §  Ibid. ,  Bancroft,  Elliot,  Hutchinson. 

II  Ibid.     Uhden,  p.  96.  IT  Winthrop,  Palfrey. 


396  THE  PILGRIM  FATHEES. 

pleaded  in  Parliament  for  the  liberties  of  all  classes 
of  dissenters — "  all  sucli  are  not  to  be  denied  cohab- 
itation, but  are  to  be  pitied  and  reformed.  Ishmael 
shall  dwell  in  the  presence  of  his  brethren."* 

Now  that  the  founders  of  the  colony  had  emerged 
from  their  brief  eclipse  and  regained  their  pristine 
influence,  they  decided  to  initiate  measures  which 
should  definitely  silence  the  unseemly  "  noise  about 
the  temple."  An  ecclesiastical  synod  was  con- 
vened.! Assembling  in  the  summer  of  1637,  it 
branded  eighty-two  opinions  then  in  vogue  as  he- 
retical, and  summoned  Anne  Hutchinson,  Wheel- 
wright, and  others  of  that  "  ilk,"  to  their  bar  for 
examination.:}: 

They  aj^peared;  and  Cotton,  who  had  satisfied 
his  brother  clergymen  of  his  orthodoxy,  tainted  for 
a  space  by  his  connection  with  the  Antinomians, 
was  set  to  examine  Mrs.  Hutchinson ;  "  Avhich  was 
hard  for  him  to  do,  and  bitter  for  her  to  eudure; 
for  she  had  been  his  protege.''^ 

This  remarkable  woman  was  now  in  her  element. 
She  was  calm,  and  she  was  firm,  and  she  was  keen ; 
for, 

"  Spirits  are  uot  finely  touched 
But  to  fine  issues." 

But  one  bold  avowal  sealed  her  doom.  "  We  have,"* 
she  said,  "  a  new  rule  of  practice  b}^  immediate  rev- 

*  Cited  in  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  p.  390. 

f  C.  Mather's  Magnalia,  vol.  2,  p.  510.     Palfrej^  Hubbard. 
\  Ibid. ,  Hutchinson's  Coll. .  Neale's  Hist,  of  New  England. 
§  Elliot,  vol.  1,  p.  2G7. 


DE  PEOFUNDIS.  397 

elations ;  by  these  we  guide  our  conduct.  Not  that 
we  expect  any  revelation  in  the  way  of  a  miracle ; 
that  is  a  delusion;  but  we  despise  the  anathemas 
of  your  synods  and  courts,  and  will  still  follow  the 
whisperings  of  conscience."* 

This  speech  caused  wide -spread  alarm.  It 
seemed  to  squint  towards  anarchy.  "  The  true 
parents  of  the  brats  began  to  discover  themselves," 
quaintly  comments  old  Mather,  "  when  the  synod 
lifted  the  sword  upon  them."t  An  insurrection  of 
lawless  fanatics,  "  like  a  Munster  tragedy^"  seemed 
brewing.  The  magistrates  decided  that  the  danger 
was  desperate ;  that  Anne  Hutchinson  was  "  like 
Koger  Williams,  or  worse ;":}:  and  so,  says  Win- 
throp,  "  we  applied  the  last  remedy,  and  that  with- 
out delay."§ 

Anne  Hutchinson,  Wheelwright,  and  Aspinwall, 
were  solemnly  exiled  as  "unfit  for  the  society"  of 
the  Pilgrims ;  and  those  of  their  followers  who 
remained  were  ordered  to  deliver  up  their  arms, 
lest  they  should,  "  upon  some  revelation,  make  a 
sudden  insurrection. "|| 

Thus  ended  the  ecdesiarum  prceZ/a.T  "And 
thus,"  says  Cotton  Mather,  "  was  the  hydra  be- 
headed— hjdra  decapitata.''-^  "  This  legislation 
may  be  reproved  for  its  jealousy,  but  not  for  its 
cruelty;  for  it  condemned  the  "heretics"  to  a  ban- 

*  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  p-  390. 

f  C.  Mather's  Magnalia,  vol.  2,  p.  512. 

i  Winthrop  in  Hutchinson's  Coll.         §  "Winthrop's  Journal. 

II  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  p.  391.  IT  Battles  of  the  Churches. 

**  Magnalia,  vol.  2.  p.  508. 


398  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEKS. 

ishment  not  more  severe  than  many  of  the  best  of 
the  Pilgrims  had  encountered  from  choice."  But 
it  is  a  sad  chapter  ;  and  perhaps  the  old  divine  was 
right  when  he  wrote,  "  What  these  errors  were  't  is 
needless  now  to  repeat ;  they  are  dead  and  gone, 
and  buried  past  resurrection ;  't  is  a  pity  to  strive 
to  rake  them  from  their  graves."* 

The  exiles,  followed  by  great  numbers  of  pros- 
elytes, on  quitting  Massachusetts  Bay,  wandered 
southward,  "designing  to  plant- a  settlement  on 
Long  Island,  or  near  Delaware  Bay.  But  Eoger 
Williams  welcomed  them  to  his  vicinity,"  and  ob- 
tained for  them  a  resting-place.  They  colonized 
Rhode  Island,  or  Aquitneck,  as  it  was  then  called. 
"  It  was  not  price  nor  money  that  got  Rhode  Isl- 
and," wrote  Williams ;  "  it  was  gotten  by  love  ;  by 
the  love  and  favor  which  that  honorable  gentleman, 
Sir  Harry  Vane,  and  myself,  had  with  that  great 
'  sachem,  Miantonomoh."t 

Being  thus  held  by  the  same  tenure  that  Provi- 
dence owned,  Aquitneck  was  based  upon  the  self- 
same in-inciple  of  intellectual  liberty ;  and  though 
the  two  were  not  united  in  one  state  until  after  the 
Restoration,  they  clasped  hands  in  equal  brother- 
hood, and  were  buoyed  by  toleration. 

Thus  the  principles  of  Anne  Hutchinson,  thrown 
o'tit  of  Massachusetts,  sprouted  in  Rhode  Island, 

-  Magiialia,  vol.  2,  p.  512. 

t  Knowles'  Life  of  Williams,  Elton.  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  some 
years  after  her  exile,  suffered  a  melancholy  fate,  being  tomahawked 
by  the  savages.     See  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  pp.  393,  394:. 


DE  PEOFUNDIS.  399 

and  grew  a  well-ordered,  sober  state.      A  liappy 
result  flowed  from  an  unhappy  cause. 

And  now  for  a  season  internecine  strife  was 
hushed.  All  eyes  were  directed  across  the  water. 
"  The  angels  of  the  trans- Atlantic  churches,  sound- 
ing forth  their  silver  trumpets,  heard  the  sound  of 
rattling  drums  "  on  every  European  breeze.^  De- 
mocracy was  about  to  assert  itself  in  England.  The 
Pilgrim  Fathers  grasped  hands,  and  silently  marked 
the  lesson  ;  which  was,  that  "courtiers,  bishops,  and 
kings,  too,  have  a  joint  in  their  necks." 

*  Johnson's  AVoncTer-working  Providence,  p.  96. 


400  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 


CHAPTEE   XXXI. 

THE  CHAET  AND  THE  PILOTS. 

"  And  sovereign  law,  the  state's  collected  will, 
O'er  thrones  and  globes  elate. 
Sits  empress,  crowning  good,  repressing  ill." 

Sir  William  Jones. 

•'To  do  the  genteel  deeds — that  makes  the  gentleman." 

Chaucek. 

'Tis  a  trite  saying,  that  legislation  reflects  cbar- 
acter.  The  penal  code  of  a  state  mirrors  the  cul- 
ture, the  thought,  and  the  habits  of  its  citizens ;  be- 
cause laws  grow  from  men's  exigencies.  Of  course, 
the  Pilgrims  had  a  legal  chart,  and  they  wrote  its 
quaint  characters  in  the  ink  of  their  peculiarities. 
Unlike  our  statute-book,  it  made  no  fine  distinc- 
tions and  it  used  no  legal  fictions,  but  was  very 
simple  and  very  plain ;  results  due  to  the  primitive 
social  customs  of  the  colonies,  to  the  lack  of  law- 
yers, and  to  the  constant  efibrt  to  avoid  litigation; 
for  in  those  days  they  did  not  mean 

"  With  subtle  cobweb  cheats, 


To  catch  in  knotted  law,  like  nets; 

In  which,  when  men  are  once  imbrangled, 

The  more  they  stir,  the  more  they're  tangled." 

The  founders  of  New  England  had  little  sympa- 
thy with,  and  made  no  provision  for,  legal  legerde- 
main.    They  were  much  too  earnest  and  honest  to 


THE  CHAKT  AND  THE  PILOTS.        401 

admire  that  kind  of  justice  which  Pope  has  satir- 
ized : 

"  Once — says  an  author,  -where  I  need  not  say — 
Two  travellers  found  an  oyster  in  their  way: 
Both  fierce,  both  hungrj',  the  dispute  grew  strong, 
When,  scale  in  hand,  dame  Justice  passed  along. 
Before  her  each  with  clamor  pleads  the  laws, 
Explains  the  matter,  and  would  win  the  cause. 
Dame  Justice,  weighing  long  the  doubtful  right, 
Takes,  opens,  swallows  it,  before  their  sight. 
The  cause  of  strife  removed  so  rarely  well, 
•  There  take ' — says  Justice — ■'  take  you  each  a  shell. 
We  thrive  at  Westminster  on  fools  like  you : 
'T  was  a  fat  oyster — live  in  peace — adieu. ' " 

But  Avhile  the  Pilgrims  knew  nothing  of  law  as 
a  vehicle  for  quarrels  to  ride  on  and  for  trickery  to 
drive,  they  made  use  of  it  as  a  bit  to  curb  disorder. 
"  Some  of  their  enactments  exhibit  profound  wis- 
dom, sagacity,  and  forecast ;  others  show  their 
strong  attachment  to  the  precepts  of  the  Bible ;  and 
still  others  descend  to  matters  of  such  trivial  nature 
as  to  appear  puerile ;  yet  of  these  it  may  be  said 
that  they  are  preventive.  The  Pilgrims  believed  in 
nipping  crime  in  the  bud.  The  things  forbidden 
may  have  been,  in  themselves,  comparatively  unim- 
portant ;  but  their  influence,  if  unchecked,  might 
have  led  to  gross  oflfences.  By  destroying  the  seed 
of  wickedness,  they  labored  to  prevent  the  fruits."* 

Yery  evidently  the  colonists  were  not  free  tra- 
ders, for,  three  years  after  the  landing  at  Plymouth 
Pock,  a  protective  law  was  passed,  by  which  it  was 
enacted  that  "  no  handicraftsmen,  as  shoemakers, 
tailors,  carpenters,  joiners,  smiths,  and  sawyers,  be- 

*  Banvard,  p.  200. 


402  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEES. 

longing  to  this  plantation,  shall  work  for  any  stran- 
gers and  foreigners  until  the  domestic  necessities 
be  served."*  And  at  the  same  time,  in  order  to 
prevent  the  return  of  a  famine  which  had  repeat- 
edly visited  them,  it  was  enacted  that  "  until  farther 
orders,  no  corn,  beans,  or  peas,  be  exported,  under 
penalty  of  a  confiscation  of  such  exports."! 

Marriage  was  held  to  be  a  civil  contract,:}:  and 
the  intention  to  marry  was  to  be  published  fourteen 
days,  including  three  Sabbaths,  before  the  union, 
and  was  then  to  be  consummated  only  on  the  con- 
sent of  the  parents  or  guardian  of  the  lady,  if  she 
were  under  "  parental  covert."§ 

Denial  of  the  Scriptures  as  the  rule  of  life,  was 
an  indictable  offence,  and  was  punishable  by  whip- 
ping ;  so  were  violations  of  the  Sabbath,  the  neg- 
lecting of  public  worship,  and  slander.H  Once  a 
Miss  Boulton,  on  conviction  of  slander,  was  con- 
demned to  the  humiliating  punishment  of  sitting  in 
the  stocks,  with  a  paper  fastened  to  her  breast  on 
which  were  written  the  details  of  her  offence  in  capi- 
tal letters.!  At  another  time,  two  men  were  simi- 
larly dealt  with  for  having  disturbed  a  meeting  ;""•* 
and  this  same  court  also  "  sharply  reproved  John 
"Whitson  for  writing  a  note  on  common  business  on 
the  Lord's  day."tt  Women  Avho  abused  their  hus- 
bands or  who  struck  their  fathers-in-law,  were  fined 
or  whipped  at  the  option  of  the  magistrate.:|::j: 

*  Thatcher's  New  Plymouth,  Banvard. 

t  Charter  and  Laws  of  New  Plymouth.         %  Ibid. ,  Banvard. 

§  Ibid.      \\  Ibid.      H  Ibid.       **  Ibid.       jf  Ibid.       Jt  Ibid. 


THE  CHART  AND  THE   PILOTS.        403 

Very  odd  and  very  arbitrary  all  this  seems  to 
us ;  but  it  came  naturally  from  the  theocratic  idea, 
which  subordinated  every  other  interest  to  religion. 
And  with  all  its  singularities,  it  must  be  confessed 
that  the  Pilgrim  code  was,  as  a  whole  and  at  that 
time,  adapted  to  secure  a  higher  moral  character  to 
the  community  than  would  have  been  attained  by 
the  naturalization  of  the  then  existing  laws  of  any 
other  people.* 

Occasionally,  "whales  used  to  be  driven  ashore, 
whereupon  the  Pilgrims  would  obtain  oil  from 
them.  Ere  Ions:  it  was  ordained  that  when  such  an 
incident  occurred,  or  when  any  whale  was  cut  up  at 
sea  and  brought  into  port,  one  full  hogshead  of  oil 
should  be  paid  to  the  state  ;"t  and  this  was  the  first 
impost,  from  which  have  grown  the  custom-houses 
of  our  age. 

The  court  which  framed  this  law  also  proposed, 
"  as  a  thing  very  commendable  and  beneficial  to  the 
towns  where  God's  providence  cast  whales,  that  all 
should  agree  to  set  apart  some  portion  of  such  fish 
or  oil  for  the  encouragement  of  an  able,  godly  min- 
istry."t 

But  the  chief  strength  of  New  England  lay  in 
the  Puritan  homes.  These  were  the  nurseries  of 
Christian  freemen.  Good  could  hardly  fail  to  result 
when  "  parents  were  required  to  see  that  their  chil- 
dren were  taught  to  read  the  Scriptures  and  to  recite 
some  short  orthodox  catechism,  without  the  book ; 

*  Banvard,  p.  211.  f  Charter  and  Laws,  etc. 

X  Banvard,  ut  antea. 


404  THE  PILGEIM  FATHERS. 

and  when  they  '  brought  up '  their  families  to  some 
honest  calling  that  made  them  useful  to  themselves 
and  to  the  commonwealth." 

The  New  England  towns  were  perfect  democra- 
cies.   "  Their  formation  was  promoted  by  the  dread 
of,  and  danger  from,  Indians,  and  also  by  the  de- 
mand for  churches  and  schools.    The  settlers,  there- 
fore, did  not  scatter  widely  upon  large  plantations, 
but  collected  in  villages,  with  their  farms  around 
them.     The   town-meetings  were   held  annually — 
usually  in  the  spring — and  every  voter  was  expected 
to  be  present  to  take  his  part  in  the  direction  of 
affairs;  this  was  looked  u]3on  as  a  chief  duty;  and 
it  was  held  that  a  man  who  would  not  use  his  lib- 
erty and  do  this  duty  was  no  good  citizen.     The 
roll  of  voters  was  often  called,  and  the  absentees 
were  each  fined  eighteen  pence.     At  first  they  met 
in  the  church  ;  but  eventually  each  town  provided 
itself  with  a  town-house,  in  which  to  conduct  its  busi- 
ness and  hold  its  courts.    When  the  meetings  came 
to  order,  some  grave  and  good  citizen  was  chosen 
moderator.     Then  the  town  business  was  brought 
up  in  order.     Motions  were  made,  briefly  debated, 
and  voted  upon.     Matters  passed  at  one  meeting 
were  often  reversed  at  a  subsequent  one,  and  the 
minutes  read,  '  Undone  next  meeting.'     The  voters 
granted  lands,  established  and  repaired  mills,  roads, 
and  ferries,  and  took  order  as  to  clearing  commons, 
paying  the  schoolmaster,  raising  the  salary  of  the 
minister,  and  electing  deputies  to  the  General  Court. 
In  every  town  from  three  to  seven  '  prudential  men,' 


THE  CHAKT  AND  THE  PILOTS.        405 

afterwards  called  '  select  men,'  were  appointed  to 
administer  the  town  affairs  between  the  annual 
meetings ;  and  these  held  petty  courts,  decided  mi- 
nor cases,  and  acted  as  referees  in  most  disputes. 
Such  was  the  nursing  on  which*  these  states  grew 
up  a  congeries  of  towns,  true  and  strong  and  free."* 

Among  the  many  peculiarities  of  the  Pilgrim  Fa- 
thers, perhaps  the  oddest  trait  was  either  their  lack 
of  ambition  or  their  sober  sense  of  the  responsibili- 
ties of  office,  whose  honors  and  emoluments  so  little 
tempted  them,  that  even  the  position  of  governor 
went  begging.  Indeed,  they  had  to  be  pricked  up 
to  their  duty  by  statute  ;  for  in  1632  it  was  provided 
that  if  any  one  should  refuse  to  sit  in  the  guberna- 
torial chair,  after  election,  he  should  be  fined  twenty 
pounds. t  Winthrop,  under  the  year  1633,  makes 
this  record  :  "  This  year,  Mr.  Edward  Winslbw  was 
elected  governor  of  Plymouth,  and  Mr.  Bradford, 
having  been  governor  about  ten  years,  noio  got  off  hy 
importunity  yX 

How  much  happier  we  are  in  our  age,  for  now- 
a-days  thousands  of  devoted  patriots  are  perfectly 
willing  to  lay  their  privacy  upon  the  altar  of  their 
country  by  accepting  any  office,  from  a  snuggery  in 
the  custom-house  to  the  presidency  of  the  Repub- 
lic. They  only  beg  to  be  used.  Men  no  longer  cite 
that  speech  of  the  father  of  Themistocles,  who,  in 
attempting  to  dissuade  his  son  from  government, 
showed  him  the  old,  discarded  oars  which  the  Gre- 

«-  Elliot,  vol.  1,  pp.  183,  184.  f  Chap.  12,  p.  151. 

X  Winthrop,  vol  1. 


406  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEKS. 

cian  mariners  had  thrown  away  upon  the  sea-shore, 
and  said :  "See  ;  the  people  will  certainly  treat  their 
old  rulers  with  the  same  contempt." 

But  if  the  Pilgrims  did  not  accej^t  office  readily, 
they  did  not  holt^  it  lightly.  No ;  they  were  real 
rulers,  not  cockades  masquerading  in  the  garb  of 
authority.  The}-  took  high  views  of  their  duties, 
and  believed  with  Agapetus,  that  "  the  loftier  the 
station  one  reaches  in  the  government,  the  truer 
should  be  his  devotion  to  the  service  of  God;"-^"  and 
they  were  sensible  of  what  Cotton  Mather  styles 
that  "great  stroke"  of  Cicero:  "Nulla  re  propius 
liominas  ad  Deum  accedunt,  quam  salutem  hominihus 
dando'' — men  approach  nearest  to  the  character  of 
God  in  doing  good  to  mankind. 

"  The  word  government  properly  signifies  the 
guidance  of  a  sMjj.  Tully  uses  it  in  that  sense  ;  and 
in  Plutarch  the  art  of  steering  a  vessel  is  called  gov- 
ernment.-\  New  England  is  a  little'shii3  that  has 
weathered  many  storms,  and  it  is  but  fair  that  those 
who  have  stood  at  the  helm  of  the  ship  should  be 
remembered  in  its  story."  Let  us  mention  one  or 
two  of  these  honored  pilots. 

With  "William  Bradford,  the  eldest  of  the  New 
England  governors,  we  are  already  acquainted. 
Born  in  1588,  he  had  come  to  America  in  the  prime 
of  his  life,  and  devoted  himself  to  God  and  the  com- 
monweal. He  was  "looked  on  as  a  common  blessing 
and  father  to  all,"  and  he  lived  long  enough  to  see 

<'"  Quo  quis  in  republica  majorem  dignitatis  gradiim  adeptus 
est,  eo  Deum  colat  submissius."  |  Texvn  TTViiepvijTLKrj. 


THE  CHABT  AND   THE  PILOTS.        407 

those  high  hopes  i^^ith  which  he  had  embarked  in 
the  "Mayflower"  more  than  realized;  for  the  wil- 
derness refuge  was  thronged  and  prosperous  beyond 
his  wildest  dreams.*  He  was  fully  appreciated  at 
Plymouth ;  and  with  the  exception  of  five  years' 
respite,  when  he  "  got  off"  by  his  "  importunity," 
he  was  reelected  governor  with  annual  regularity 
until  death  promoted  him  to  a  higher  station, f 

Bradford's  administration  of  affairs  as  connected 
with  the  many  vexatious  qiiestions  arising  from  the 
difficulty  with  the  Merchant-adventurers  and  with 
the  English  partners  of  the  "  Undertakers,"  was  a 
model  of  firmness,  wisdom,  patience,  forbearance, 
and  energy.  So  also  in  his  benevolent  determina- 
tion to  bring  over  the  rest  of  the  Leyden  exiles  at 
whatever  cost,  he  showed  the  fineness  and  beauty 
of  his  character.  "  Under  the  pressure  of  misfor- 
tune, his  example  was  a  star  of  hope,  for  he  never 
yielded  to  despondency ;  and  while,  with  Brewster, 
he  threw  the  Pilgrims  upon  God  for  support  and 
provision,  he  never  neglected  to  set  in  motion  every 
possible  instrumentality  for  procuring  supplies.":]; 
Patient,  sagacious,  devout,  heroic,  he  was  the  very 
ideal  of  a  Christian  ruler. 

We  are  assured  by  Cotton  Mather  that  Bradford 
was  "  a  person  for  study  as  well  as  for  action ;  and 
hence,  notwithstanding  the  difficulties  through  which 
he  passed  in  his  boyhood,  he  attained  a  notable 
skill  in  languages.     The  Dutch  tongue  was  almost 

o  He  died  in  1657,  iu  his  sixtj'-niiitli  year. 

f  Thatcher,  Wilson,  Jlather,  etc.       J  Plymouth  Pilgrims,  p.  227. 


408  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

as  vernacular  to  him  as  tlie  English  ;  the  French  he 
could  also  manage ;  the  Latin  and  the  Greek  he  had 
mastered;  but  the  Hebrew  he  most  of  all  studied, 
'  Because,'  he  said,  '  I  would  see  with  my  own  eyes 
the  ancient  oracles  of  God  in  their  native  beauty.' 
He  was  also  well  skilled  in  history,  in  antiquity,  and 
in  philosophy ;  and  for  theology,  he  became  so  versed 
in  it,  that  he  was  an  irrefragable  disputant."* 

But  the  crown  of  his  shining  life  was  not  his 
genius  in  executive  affairs,  or  the  journal  which  he 
has  bequeathed  to  us  as  a  record  of  the  cost  at 
which  he  built  at  Plymouth  Eock ;  it  was  "  his  holy, 
prayerful,  fruitful  walk  with  God,"  and  this  made 
him,  in  a  better  sense  than  Plato  meant, 

"The  shepherd-guardian  of  his  human  fold." 

Bradford's  immediate  successors  at  Plymouth 
were  Edward  Winslow  and  Thomas  Prince,  men  of 
the  same  mould,  and  whose  lives  exhaled  the  self- 
same fragrance.  "  Where  the  rulers  are  Christians 
the  state  prospers,"  was  the  old  proverb,  and  in 
their  case  it  was  once  more  verified. 

John  Winthrop  was  the  foremost  man  in  Massa- 
chusetts. He  was  educated,  he  was  gentlemanly, 
and  he  had  been  rich,  but  he  spent  his  fortune  "  in 
the  furtherance  of  God's  work,"  bidding  his  son  not 
mourn  for  it,  but  "  certainly  expect  a  liberal  portion 
in  the  prosperity  and  blessing  of  the  future. "t  He 
was  a  man  of  much  gentleness  and  amiabihty ;  and 

«  Magnalia,  vol.  1,  pp.  113,  114. 

t  Letter  to  John  Winthrop  the  Younger,  cited  in  Magnalia,  vol. 
1,  p.  161. 


THE   CHAET  AND   THE  PILOTS.        409 

"liis  private  life  was  charming"  as  it  crops  out  in 
his  exquisite  letters  to  his  wife,  who  remained  for  a 
time  in  England.* 

He  carried  his  admirable  temper  into  public  life. 
He  had  always  an  open  hand  of  charity.  When 
Koger  T\'illiams  was  banished,  he  wrote  him  pri- 
vately to  sustain  and  encourage  him,  and  even  sug- 
gested Narragansett  Bay  as  a  safe  asylum.t  He 
was  always  inclined  to  lenient  ways ;  and  when  in 
his  later  days  he  was  asked  to  sign  an  order  for  the 
banishment  of  an  offending  minister,  he  declined, 
remarking:  "No,  I  have  done  too  much  of  that 
already.".]:  With  this  natural  bent  towards  liberahty, 
it  was  only  with  extreme  reluctance  that  he  yielded 
to  the  imperious  sjjirit  of  intolerance  which  then 
reigned. 

As  governor,  he  was  prudent,  patient,  coura- 
geous, and  energetic — traits  which  made  him  the 
successful  pilot  of  the  ship  of  state  in  the  unchar- 
tered waters  on  which  he  floated. 

Winthrop  never  disdained  to  share  equally  with 
his  brother  Pilgrims.  It  is  related  of  him  that  once, 
in  a  famine,  he  divided  his  last  peck  of  meal  with  a 
hungry  man,  and  was  only  not  gnawed  by  hunger 
himself,  because  a  ship  entered  Salem  harbor  ere 
night  with  a  well-stocked  larder,  and  changed  the 
fast  which  had  been  appointed  for  the  next  day  into 
a  thank sgiving.§ 

«'  Elliot.    Life  of  J.  Winthrop,  by  11.  C.  Winthrop,  Boston,  1866. 

t  "WilUams'  Letter  to  Mason.     Kuowles,  Elton. 

I  Wilson,  p.  494.  §  Hutchinson,  vol.  1,  p.  23. 


410  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEES. 

He  knew  lio w  to  conquer  hearts  by  kindness.  One 
hard  winter,  complaint  was  made  to  him  that  a  man 
stole  regularly  to  his  woodpile  and  abstracted  fuel. 
"Does  he  ?"  asked  Winthrop ;  "  send  him  to  me ;  I'll 
cure  him."  The  quaking  wretch  was  brought  in  and 
expected  to  hear  a  rigorous  sentence.  "Friend," 
said  he,  "  it  is  a  cold  winter,  and  I  fear  you  are  but 
poorly  provided  with  wood  to  meet  it.  You  are 
welcome  to  supply  yourself  at  my  pile  till  winter  is 
over.  ^ 

Winthrop's  "  rehgion  shone  out  through  all  his 
life,  and  gave  a  higher  lustre  to  his  character.  He 
was  zealous  for  truth  and  righteousness.  Often  he 
bore  witness  to  the  minister  in  the  midst  of  the  con- 
gregation ;  and  frequently  he  visited  the  neighbor- 
ing towns  to  prophesy,  as  it  was  called,  or  as  we 
say,  exhort.  He  had  admirers  not  only  in  America, 
but  in  England  and  at  court.  "T  is  a  pity,'  re- 
marked Charles  I.,  '  that  such  a  worthy  gentleman 
should  have  banished  himself  to  the  hardships  of  a 
wilderness  life.'  "t 

In  Massachusetts  the  colonists  believed  in  rota- 
tion in  oflice ;  consequently,  Winthrop  was  often 
displaced  from  the  gubernatorial  chair,  and  then 
replaced  again.  He  always  filled  the  post  with 
dignity  and  with  untarnished  honor  ;  so  that  on  his 
death  at  sixty,  worn  out  by  toil  and  care,  he  might 
have  torn  his  books  of  account,  as  Scipio  Africanus 
did,  and  said:  "A  flourishing  colony  has  been  led 
out  and  settled  under  my  direction.     I  have  spent 

o  Wilson.  t  Shawmut ;  or  the  Settlement  of  Boston,  p.  86. 


THE   CHAET  AND   THE  PILOTS.         411 

my  fortune  and  myself  in  its  service.  Waste  no 
more  time  in  harangues,  but  give  thanks  to  God.""'^ 

Winthrop's  great  rival  in  influence  and  position 
Avas  stern  Thomas  Dudley.  His  views  corresponded 
far  more  completely  with  the  theocratic  formulas 
than  did  those  of  his  mild  and  somewhat  pliant 
friend.  Dudley  was  bold,  aggressive,  and  dogmatic ; 
and  he  frequently  quarrelled  with  Winthrop,  be- 
cause that  statesman  would  not  hack  dissenters 
with  his  harsh  hatchet,  but  was  cautious,  and  tem- 
porizing, and  conciliatory,  alike  from  temperament 
and  from  discipline.  He  Avas  always  chosen  dej^uty 
when  Winthrop  Avas  elected  governor ;  and  on  sev- 
eral occasions  he  held  the  chief  office  himself.  "He 
was  a  man  of  sound  sense,  sterling  integrity,  and 
uncompromising  faith.  He  Avas  rigid  in  "his  reli- 
gious opinions,  and  urged  the  strictest  enforcement 
of  the  sedition  laAvs.  He  considered  that  the  vari- 
ous opinions  that  Avere  struggling  to  manifest  them- 
selves from  time  to  time  tended  to  licentiousness ; 
and  he  was  desirous  that  his  epitaph  should  be — 
'I  died  no  libertine.' "t  To  paint  him  in  a  word, 
Dudley  Avas  an  upright  and  downright  man  —  a 
"  i^iece  of  living  justice." 

Sir  Harry  Yane  did  not  tarry  long  in  Ncav  Eng- 
land; arriA'ing  in  1G35,  he  went  home  in  1G37  to 
lend  his  name  and  brains  to  the  dawning  rcA^olu- 
tion,  and  to  carve  his  spirit  on  the  marble  of  the 
ages.     But  short  as  Avas  his  sojourn  on  the  Avest  of 

*  Hutcliinsou.  vol.  1,  p.  40. 

t  See  his  Sonnet  in  Magnalia,  vol.  1,  p.  134- 


412  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

the  Atlantic,  he  stayed  long  enough  to  achieve  wide 
honor  and  to  leave  plain  traces  of  his  genius.  He, 
too,  was  a  Pilgrim,  and  "  it  is  a  singular  fact  in  the 
history  of  New  England,  that,  among  her  pioneers, 
were  such  men  as  Vane,  well  born,  well  bred,  and 
able  to  command  a  splendid  career  at  home."* 

"Sir  Henry  Vane  the  younger,"  remarks  Ban- 
croft, "was  a  man  of  the  purest  mind,  and  a  states- 
man of  the  rarest  integrity,  whose  name  the  progress 
of  intelHgence  and  liberty  will  erase  from  the  rubric 
of  fanatics  and  traitors,  and  insert  high  among  the 
aspirants  after  truth  and  the  martyrs  for  liberty. 
Almost  in  his  boyhood  he  had  valued  the  '  obedience 
of  the  gospel'  more  than  the  successful  career  of 
English  diplomacy,  and  he  cheerfully  '  forsook  the 
preferments  of  the  court  of  Charles  for  the  ordinances 
of  religion  in  their  jDurity  in  New  England.'  "f 

While  here  he  was  the  warm  friend  of  Koger 
Williams  and  Anne  Hutchinson ;  and  when  he  went 
home  he  carried  back  Avith  him  the  same  ardor  for 
Christian  truth  which  had  impelled  him  to  grasp 
hands  with  Winthrop  in  the  wilderness.  He  had  a 
heart,  and  "he  was  happy  in  the  possession  of  an 
admirable  genius,  though  naturally  more  inclined  to 
contemplative  excellence  than  to  action.  He  was 
happy,  too,  in  the  eulogist  of  his  virtues;  for  Milton, 
ever  parsimonious  of  praise,  reserving  the  majesty 
of  his  verse  to  celebrate  the  glories  and  vindicate 
the  providence  of  God,  was  lavish  of  his  encomiums 
on  the  youthful  friend  of  religious  liberty.  But 
«  Elli(^t.  vol.  ],  p.  170.  t  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  p.  383. 


THE  CHART  AND   THE   PILOTS.        413 

Yane  was  still  more  happy  in  attaining  early  in  life 
a  firmly-settled  theory  of  morals,  and  in  possessing 
an  energetic  will,  which  made  all  his  conduct  to  the 
very  last  conform  to  the  doctrines  he  had  espoused, 
turning  his  dying  hour  into  a  seal  of  witness,  which 
his  life  had  ever  borne  with  noble  consistency  to 
the  freedom  of  conscience  and  the  people.  '  If  he 
were  not  superior  to  Hampden,'  says  Clarendon,  'he 
was  inferior  to  no  other  man ;'  '  his  whole  life  made 
good  the  imagination  that  there  was  in  him  some- 
thing extraordinary.'  "'^ 

Bluff  John  Endicott  v>as  another  of  the  famous 
characters  whose  names  and  fame  are  impressed  on 
the  vellum  of  colonial  history.  He  is  said  to  have 
been  perhaps  the  finest  specimen  of  the  genuine 
Puritan  character  to  be  found  among  the  early  gov- 
ernors. "  He  was  quick  of  temper,  with  strong  reli- 
gious feelings ;  resolute  to  uphold  with  the  sword 
Avhat  he  had  received  as  gospel  truth ;  and  feared 
no  enemy  so  much  as  a  gainsaying  spirit.  He  tore 
the  cross  out  of  the  English  flag,  cut  down  the  May- 
pole at  Merry-Mount,  rakish  Morton's  sometime 
den,  published  his  detestation  of  long  hair  in  a  for- 
mal proclamation,  and  set  dissenters  in  the  pillory. 
Inferior  to  Winthrop  in  learning  —  in  comprehen- 
sion to  Yane  —  in  tolerance  even  to  Dudley  —  he 
excelled  them  all  in  the  keen  eye  to  discern  the  fit 
moment  for  action,  in  the  quick  resolve  to  profit  by 
it,  and  in  the  hand  always  ready  to  strike. "t 

*  Bancroft,  ut  antea. 

t  Hubbard,  cited  in  Elliot,  vol.  1,  pp.  173,  171. 


4U  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

These  are  a  few  of  the  central  figures,  the  piv- 
otal men,  of  the  first  half  dozen  Pilgrim  decades  in 
New  England.  There  are  many  more  almost  equal- 
ly eminent  and  worthy  of  immortal  honor — Brad- 
street,  and  Hopkins,  and  Eaton,  and  the  younger 
Winthrop.  Here  is  an  emharras  des  richesses,  and 
neither  time  nor  space  serves  to  name  the  length- 
ened list  of  worthies  who  lent  lustre  and  dignity  to 
the  colonial  annals.  The  best  of  them  were  the 
peers  of  the  first  men  of  any  age  or  country;  and 
the  worst  more  than  met  the  requirements  of  the 
Latins  in  their  rulers  :  "  The  Ptoman  people,"  sajs 
Cicero,  "selected  their  magistrates  as  if  they  were 
to  be  stewards  of  the  republic.  Proficiency  in  other 
departments,  if  it  existed,  they  gladly  tolerated ; 
but  if  such  additional  accomplishments  were  lack- 
ing, they  were  content  with  the  virtue  and  honesty 
of  their  public  servants."^-" 

The  Pilgrim  governors  were  at  least  all  honest, 
and  virtuous,  and  true ;  and  they  would  have  jjleased 
those  Thebans  who  made  the  statues  of  their  judges 
without  hands,  importing  that  they  were  no  takers, 
for  these  men  too  were  guiltless  of  handling  bribes. 
God  blessed  colonial  New  England  rarely  when  he 
sent  her  such  men  as  a  benediction.  But  they  are 
gone  —  Bradford,  and  Winthrop,  and  Carver,  and 
Dudley,  and  Vane,  and  Endicott, 

• "Woe  the  day! 


How  mingles   mightiest  dust  with  meauest  clay." 
~  Cicero,  Orati  Pro.  Plan. 


EUEEKA.  415 


CHAPTER   XXXII. 

EUEEKA. 

"  Like  one  who  had  set  out  on  his  way  by  night,  and  travelled 
through  a  region  of  smooth  or  idle  dreams ,  our  history  now  arrives 
on  the  confines,  where  daylight  and  truth  meet  lis  with  a  clear 
dawn,  representing  to  our  view,  though  at  far  distance,  true  colors 
and  shapes." 

Milton,  History  of  England. 

"When  Great  Britaiu,  looking  through  the  eyes 
of  the  Long  Parliament  in  1641,  glanced  across  the 
Atlantic,  she  was  surprised  to  see  that  the  despised 
bantling  of  1620  had,  against  all  discouragements, 
staggered  to  its  feet,  and  stood  a  nation,  self-sus- 
taining, robust,  independent. 

Already  twenty-one  thousand  Pilgrims  were  per- 
manently seated  in  New  England ;-  fifty  prosper- 
ous yillagest  peeped  from  the  openings  in  the  long 
unbroken  forests.  The  steeples  of  forty  churches 
pointed  their  white  fingers  to  the  sky.:]:  The  rude 
log-cabins  of  the  first  months  of  settlement  had 
been  replaced  by  well-built  houses.§  Agriculture 
climbed  the  hill-sides.  Commerce  played  by  the 
sea-shore.  Trade  laughed  and  chaffed  and  dick- 
ered in  the  market-place.      The  spindle  and  the 

*  Hutchinson,  vol.  1,  p.  91.  Mass.  Historical  Coll.,  vol.  1,  23. 
Neale's  New  England.  t  Johnson,  Mather,  Bancroft, 

t  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  vol.  1,  p.  210,  et  seq.  ^ 
§  Ibid.,  Bancroft. 


416  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEKS. 

loom  nodded  merril}'  to  each  other  over  then-  work, 
as  they  labored  side  by  side  in  the  fabrication  of 
"cotton  and  woollen  and  linen  cloth;"  for  manufac- 
tures were  even  thus  early  established  in  New  Eng- 
land.* 

And  the  Pilgrims  had  a  foreign  influence.  When 
a  Madeira  merchant  visited  Boston  in  1642,  he  told 
"Winthrop  that  the  West  Indian  Jesuits  taught  that 
the  "  New-Englanders  were  the  worst  of  all  heretics, 
and  that  they  were  the  cause  of  the  civil  war  in  the 
British  island,  and  of  the  downfall  of  Archbishoj^ 
Laud."t 

The  Pilgrims  in  England  cordially  recognized 
their  kinship  to  the  exiles.  When  the  Parlia- 
ment held  regal  prerogatives,  in  1641,  the  colonists 
were  urgently  advised  to  solicit  the  admission  of 
their  delegates  to  its  floor.  "  But  upon  consulting 
about  it,"  sa3's  Winthrop,  "  we  declined  the  motion, 
for  this  consideration,  that  if  we  should  put  our- 
selves under  the  protection  of  the  Parliament,  we 
should  then  be  subject  to  all  its  laws,  or  at  least  to 
such  as  the  Commons  might  be  pleased  to  impose 
on  us ;  which  might  be  inconvenient,  and  prove 
very  prejudicial  to  us.":]:  And  when,  a  twelve- 
month later,  "letters  arrived  inviting  the  colonial 
churches  to  send  representatives  to  the  Westmin- 
ster Assembly  of  Divines,  the  same  sagacity  led 
them  to  neglect  the  invitation.  The  love  of  politi- 
cal  independence    declined    even    benefits.      New 

*  Winthrop,  vol.  2,  p.  119.  f  Felt,  vol.  1,  p.  481. 

J  Wiutbrop,  vol.  2,  p.  25. 


EUREKA.  417 

Eiigiand  spoke  almost  as  one  sovereign  to  an- 
other.""^ 

The  Pilgrims  were  singularly  jealous  of  their 
franchises,  and  they  never  neglected  an  opportunity 
to  consolidate  and  enlarge  their  liberty.  And  now, 
since  the  days  had  come  when  England  was  rent 
by  the  demon  of  war,  when  the  throne  tottered  to 
its,  fall,  when  exultant  republicanism,  speaking 
through  the  lips  of  Cromwell,  shouted,  "  Sic  semper 
tyrannisP'  as  the  head  of  a  royal  despot  was  struck 
off,  the  colonists  had  ample  time  in  which  to  de- 
velop and  define  their  rights. 

Thus,  exciting  and  momentous  as  were  the  scenes 
enacted  on  the  European  stage,  and  deeply  as  the 
Forefathers  were  interested  in  the  issue,  they  were 
not  won  to  overlook  their  own  home  drama.  They 
were  busy  at  this  very  time  in  reaping  the  benefits 
of  secure  and  liberal  domestic  legislation.  A  bill 
of  rights  was  promulgated ;  and  under  this,  "  though 
universal  suffrage  was  not  established,  every  man, 
whether  citizen  or  alien,  received  the  right  of  intro- 
ducing any  business  into  any  public  assembly,  and 
of  taking  part  in  its  deliberations.  Then  Massa- 
chusetts, by  special  law,  offered  free  welcome  and  aid, 
at  the  public  cost,  to  Christians  of  any  nationality 
who  might  fly  beyond  the  Atlantic  '  to  escape  from 
wars  or  famine,  or  the  oppression  of  their  persecu- 
tors.' Thus  the  fugitive  and  the  downtrodden  were, 
by  statute,  made  the  guests  of  the  commonwealth. 
Pilgrim  hospitality  was  as  wide  as  misfortune. "t 

'^  Bancroft,  vol.  1,  pp.  416,  417.  f  Bancroft,  ubi  siup. 

18* 


418  THE  PILGEIM  FATHERS. 

This  noble  legislation  was  but  the  forerunner  of 
a  yet  more  significant  act.  In  1643,  after  several 
prior  ineffectual  essays,  the  four  chief  colonies  of 
New  England  clasped  hands  in  a  confederacy.* 
Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  New  Haven,  and  Plym- 
outh, by  solemn  and  free  agreement,  became  the 
"  United  Colonies  oe  New  Englant)."'!-  The  Dutch 
Republic  was  the  model  of  this  union  ;:|:  and  the 
reasons  which  impelled  the  Pilgrims  to  cement  it 
are  recited  in  the  preamble  to  the  twelve  Articles 
of  Agreement : 

"  Whereas,  we  all  came  into  these  parts  of 
America  with  one  and  the  same  end  and  aim, 
namely,  to  advance  tlie  kingdom  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  "and  to  eujoy  the  liberties  of  the  gos- 
pel in  purity  and  peace;  and  whereas,  in  our  set- 
tling— by  a  wise  providence  of  God— we  are  farther 
dispersed  upon  the  seacoasts  and  rivers  than  was 
at  first  intended,  so  that  we  cannot,  according  to 
our  desires,  with  convenience  communicate  in  one 
government  and  jurisdiction;  and  whereas  we  live 
encompassed  with  people  of  several  nations  and 
strange  languages,  which  may  hereafter  prove  inju- 
rious to  us  or  our  posterity;  and  forasmuch  as  the 
natives  have  formerly  committed  sundry  insolences 
and  outrages  upon  several  plantations  of  the  Eng- 
lish, and  have  of  late  combined  themselves  against 
us ;  and  seeing,  by  reason  of  these  sad  distractions 
in  England,  which  the  Indians  have  heard  of,  and  by 

*  Mather's  aiagualia,  vol.  1,  p.  IGO.     Talfrey,  Hubbard,  etc. 
t  Hutchinson,  Winthroi3,  Felt. 
i  ■n-.icl.  Palfrev.  Elliot,  Bancroft. 


EUEEKA.  411) 

which  they  know  we  are  hindered  from  that  humble 
way  of  seeking  advice  or  reaping  those  comfortable 
frnits  of  protection  which  at  other  times  we  might 
well  expect ;  we  hereby  conceive  it  our  bounden 
duty,  without  delay,  to  enter  into  a  present  consoci- 
ation for  mutual  help  and  strength  in  all  our  future 
concernments ;  that,  as  in  nation  and  religion,  so 
in  other  respects,  we  be  and  continue  one."* 

The  old  Hindoo  dreamed  that  he  saw  the  hu- 
man race  led  out  to  its  varied  fortune.  First,  he 
saw  men  bitted  and  curbed,  and  the  reins  went 
back  to  an  iron  hand.  But  his  dream  changed  on 
and  on,  until  at  last  he  saw  men  led  by  reins  that 
came  from  the  brain  and  ran  back  into  shadowy 
fingers.  It  was  the  type  of  progress.  The  first 
was  despotism ;  the  last  was  a  government  of  ideas, 
of  morals,  of  the  normal  forces  of  society.!  The 
New  England  Confederation  was  the  forerunner  of 
a  mightier  union  ;  and  when  Liberty  saw  it,  she 
cried,  "  Eureka  !"  and  thanked  God. 

The  machinery  of  the  league  was  very  simple, 
very  sensible,  and  very  effective.  The  colonies  were 
co-equal.  Each  appointed  two  commissioners,  who 
formed  a  directory,  which  was  to  hold  an  annual 
session.  The  commissioners  were  empowered  to 
assemble  more  frequently  if  necessity  pressed ;  and 
they  could  deliberate  on  all  matters  which  were  "the 
proper  concomitants  or  consequents  of  confedera- 
tion.";!;    "  The  affairs  of  peace  and  war  exclusively 

'  Hubbard,  p.  466.     Col.  Eec,  etc.       f  W.  Phillips. 

t  Kocords  in  Hazard,  toI.  2.     "NVinllirop,  Hubbard,  Morton, 


420  THE  PILGRIM  FATHEES. 

belonged  to  tliem.  They  were  authorized  to  make 
internal  improvements  at  the  common  charge,  as- 
sessed according  to  population.  They  too  were  the 
guardians  to  see  equal  and  speedy  justice  assured 
to  all  the  confederates  in  every  jurisdiction ;  but 
each  colony  carefully  reserved  its  respective  local 
rights,  as  the  badges  of  continued  independence ; 
so  that,  while  the  commissioners  might  decree  war 
and  levy  troops,  they  had  no  executive  power,  but 
were  dependent  on  the  states  for  the  execution  of 
the  plans  they  matured  and  voted."* 

Two  bodies  of  colonists  M-ere  rigidly  excluded 
from  this  union.  Gorges'  pioneers,  beyond  the  Pis- 
cataqua,  were  not  admitted,  because  "they  ran  a 
different  course  "  from  the  Pilgrims,.  "  both  in  their 
ministry  and  in  their  civil  administration."  Provi- 
dence and  Ehode  Island  were  shut  out,  partly  be- 
cause they  were  not  esteemed  sufficiently  strong 
and  settled  to  add  strength  to  the  league,  and  also 
because  they  were  regarded  as  the  haunts  of  heresy 
and  fanaticism. t  It  was  thought  that  the  confed- 
eracy, in  order  to  be  effective,  should  be  homoge- 
neous. On  that  basis  it  was  launched ;  and,  sur- 
viving "the  jealousies  of  the  Long  Parliament,  it  met 
with  favor  from  the  Protector,  remained  safe  from 
censure  at  the  restoration  of  the  Stuarts,"  and 
walked  buoyantly  on,  scattering  its  benefactions 
on  the  right  hand  and  on  the  left,  until  James  II. 
vacated  the  New  England  charters,  in  1686.| 

*  Bancroft,  lit  antea. 

t  Hubbard,  Hazard,  Hutcbiusou,  Movton,  Bradford. 

t  Hist.  Coll.,  Col.  Records,  Elliot. 


EUREKA.  421 

The  colonial  union  was  the  crowning-  service  of 
the  founders  of  New  England  to  humanity.  Now 
they  began,  one  by  one,  to  descend  into  the  grave, 
Avorn  to  early  death  by  a  toilsome  griipple  with  the 
rough  and  grinding  forces  of  nature.  But  in  their 
footsteps  trudged  their  sons,  succeeding  to  the 
same  blessed  inheritance  of  faith,  and  love,  and 
godly  energy.""'' 

*  The  half  century  which  succeeded  this  act  of  uuiou  was  siu- 
guUxrly  checkered.  lu  this  time  four  momentous  events  occurred. 
The  first  of  these,  in  point  of  time,  was  the  i3ersecution  of  the 
Quakers.  The  early  advocates  of  this  sect  in  New  England  dis- 
lalayed  little  of  the  mild  philosophy  and  statesmanlike  benevolence 
of  Penn  and  his  modern  disciples ;  and,  indeed,  ' '  the  first  and 
most  noisy  exponents  of  any  popiilar  sect  are  apt  to  be  men  of 
little  consideration."  To  this  rule  the  first  Quakers  of  Massachu- 
setts were  no  exception.  They  knew  the  public  opinion  of  the 
j)rovince ;  they  knew  the  laws  which  were  put  into  the  statute- 
book  to  curb  heresy  ;  yet  they  broke  through  the  restraints  of  sen- 
timent, and  contemned  the  laws— not  mildly,  but  -with  harsh, 
violent,  and  often  indecent  obstinacy.  Persecution,  under  any 
circumstances,  is  wrong,  and  the  theocratic  principles  of  the  Mas- 
sachusetts colonists  were  far  from  being  either  just  or  necessary. 
Yet  granting  all  this,  and  it  has  still  been  well  said  that,  "if  the 
essential  guilt  of  persecution  would  be  aggravated  when  aimed 
against  the  quiet,  patient  philanthropist  of  to-daj^  it  does  not  fol- 
low that  it  would  be  attended  with  like  aggravation,  however  wick- 
ed else,  when  the  subject  was  the  mischievous  madman  of  two  cen- 
turies ago,  who  went  raving  through  the  city  reviUng  authority, 
inveighing  against  the  law  and  order  of  the  time,  running  naked  in 
the  streets,  and  rudely  interrupting  divine  service  in  the  churches, 
as  many  called  Quakers,  of  both  sexes,  did  in  1656  and  onwards. 
The  duty  of  toleration  stops  short  of  the  permission  of  such  inde- 
cency ;  nor  does  it  suffer  men,  for  conscience'  sake,  or  to  gain  a 
name  like  Abraham,  to  sacrifice  their  sons,  as  one  of  these  Friends 
was  proceeding  to  do  in  1658,  when  the  neighbors,  alarmed  by  the 
boy's  cries,  broke  into  the  house  in  time  to  balk  the  fanatic." 
Still,  it  must  be  confessed  that  there  was  a  better  way  than  the 
magistrates  of  Massachusetts  took,  and  one  more  efficient  in  curb- 


422  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

Travellers  tell  us  that  at  Florence  there  is  a  rich 
table,  worth  a  thousand  crowns,  made  of  precious 
stones  neatly  inlaid,  in  whose  construction  thirty 

ing  this  fanaticism,  than  the  pillory,  mutilation  statutes,  and  the 
death  penalty  ;  and  this  Roger  Williams  proved  in  Rhode  Island, 
and  the  younger  "Wiuthrop  demonstrated  in  Connecticut — in  both 
of  which  colonies  there  was  freedom  of  religious  opinion,  and  yet 
there  were  few  Quakers. 

That  furious  Indian  war,  known  as  "King  Philii^'s  war,"  oc- 
curred in  1675.  It  originated  in  the  .same  deep-rooted  feeling  of 
jealousy  and  hati'cd  —  begotten  of  dispossession  and  imagined 
wi'ong — that  caused  the  Pequod  war.  Massasoit  died  about  1G61. 
He  was  succeeded  by  his  soir  Alesander,  who  was,  on  his  death, 
succeeded  by  his  brother  Philip,  the  hero  of  the  struggle.  This 
sagacious  chieftain  saw  that  the  whites  were  grasping ;  that  his 
corn-lands  and  hunting-grounds  were  rapidly  being  usurped  ;  that 
rum  was  poisoning  his  warriors  ;  and  he  panted  for  revenge.  So 
he  gave  his  days  and  nights  to  the  organization  of  a  conspiracy. 
"He  spared  no  arts ;  he  lived  but  for  one  purpose,  and  that  was 
to  imite  the  Indians,  split  into  numberless  clans,  into  one  bodj', 
for  the  destruction  of  the  encroaching  pale-faces."  Philip  was 
largelj'  succes.sful,  and  the  ensuing  conflict  was  bitter,  doubtful, 
and  prolonged.  But  eventually  civilization  and  disciijline  tri- 
iimphed.  The  great  sagamore  was  slain,  and  peace  once  more 
brooded  over  mutilated  and  wailing  New  England — i^eace  insured 
by  the  definitive  subjection  of  the  Indian  tribes. 

In  1683,  James  II.  abrogated  the  Massachusetts  charter  ;  three 
years  later.  Sir  Edmund  Andros  arrived,  armed  with  the  king's 
commission  to  take  upon  himself  the  absolute  government  of  New 
England.  Andros  at  once  commenced  to  jjlay  the  despot.  He 
shackled  the  i)ress ;  he  imprisoned  men  for  their  religious  opin- 
ions ;  he  endeavored  to  get  possession  of  the  charter  of  Connecti- 
cut— which,  however,  was  hidden  in  the  "charter-oak"  at  Hart- 
ford, a  circumstance  which  has  made  the  tree  immortal ;  He  de- 
nied the  colonists  the  most  common  civil  rights,  and  asserted  the 
highest  doctrines  of  arbitrary  taxation.  The  colonies  were  ripe 
for  insurrection,  when,  in  1688,  news  came  of  the  lauding  and  cor- 
onation of  William  of  Orange.  Instantly  Andros  was  deposed,  and 
flung,  broken  and  dishonored,  out  of  New  England.  In  1691, 
King  William  granted  Massachusetts  a  new  charter ;  but  in  this 


EUREKA.  423 

men  Avere  employed  daily  for  fifteen  years.  The 
Pilgrim  Fathers  were  twice  that  time  in  carving- 
out  and  inlaying  New  England  with  churches,  and 

le  reserved  the  right  of  appointing  a  colonial  governor,  allowed 
ipiDcals  to  be  made  to  the  English  courts,  freed  all  Protestant 
.•eligions,  and  confirmed  the  annexation  of  Plymouth  to  Massachu- 
oetts— an  annexation  A\hich  Plj'iuouth  had  decreed  in  1G90.  This 
charter  robbed  the  colonists  of  several  prerogatives  which  had  be- 
tokened independence,  and  was  continued  in  substance  until  the 
dawn  of  the  Revolution.  The  same  i^olicj'  was  pursued  throiigh- 
out  New  England, 

It  was  in  the  years  1G91-2  that  what  has  been  called  the  -'Sa- 
lem witchcraft  epidemic"  occurred.  In  that  age  the  belief  in 
witches  was  general  and  strong.  In  IQH,  '5,  and  '6,  England  hanged 
fifteen  persons  accused  of  witchcraft  in  one  batch  at  Chelmsford, 
sixteen  at  Yarmouth,  and  sixty  in  Suffolk.  In  Sweden,  in  1670, 
there  was  a  panic  about  witches  ;  and  in  one  town,  Mahra,  seventy 
persons  were  charged  with  this  offence,  and  spite  of  their  protesta- 
tions of  innocence,  most  of  them  were  executed.  Fifteen  children 
were  hung  on  their  own  confession  ;  and  fifty  others  were  con- 
demned to  be  whipped  every  Sunday  for  a  twelvemonth.  Even  so 
late  as  1G97,  five  years  after  the  Salem  troubles,  seven  persons 
were  hung  in  Scotland  as  witches,  and  that  too  upon  the  unsup- 
ported testimony  of  a  single  child  eleven  years  old. 

New  England,  then,  was  not  alone  in  her  belief  in  witches,  or 
in  her  punishment  of  them.  She  merely  shared  the  opinion  of 
such  consummate  scholars  and  noble  thinkers  as  Sir  Thomas 
Browne  and  Sir  Matthew  Hale.  Many  things  combined  to  increase 
this  belief  James  I.  had  published  a  book  on  demonology.  Books 
containing  rides  for  binding  witches  were  in  wide  circulation. 
The  practice  and  the  opinion  of  centuries  substantiated  these 
phantoms.  And  the  recent  excitement  in  Sweden  and  England 
was  certain  to  cause  a  ripjile  in  America.  Alen's  minds  were  thus 
prepared  for  an  epidemic.  As  early  as  the  year  1C88,  a  case  of 
supposed  witchcraft  occurred  in  Boston.  An  old  half-witted  Irish 
woman  was  charged  with  having  bewitched  the  children  of  John 
Goodwin,  and  she  was  soon  hanged.  The  witches  then  quit  Bos- 
ton, and  in  1691-2  appeared  at  Salem.  Children  began  to  act 
oddly,  getting  "into  holes,  creeping  under  chairs,  and  uttering 
foolish  speeches" — all  of  which  were  esteemed  as  tokons  of  b**- 


424  THE  PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

free  schools,  and  printing-presses,  and  niauufae- 
tares.  Think  of  their  task,  "  That  gore  of  land,  a 
few  hundred  miles  wide  and  long,  which  lies  be- 
tween the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Atlantic  ocean,  and 
seems  to  have  been  formed  of  the  leavings  and  frag- 
ments after  the  rest  of  the  continent  was  made, 
whose  ribs  stick  out  past  all  covering;  which  has 

witchment.  Inquiries  were  at  once  and  everywhere  made  for 
witches.  The  childi-en  accused  at  random.  This  woman  was 
said  to  be  a  witch,  and  that  man.  Salem  was  aghast.  Startled 
women  passed  from  house  to  house,  repeating  and  enlarging  every 
idle  tale.  Soon  the  excitement  was  unprecedented.  Fasting  and 
prayer  failed  to  exorcise  the  "spirits."  Then  the  witches  were 
imprisoned,  tried,  condemned,  executed.  A  reign  of  terror  com- 
menced. All  lived  in  fear ;  accusation  was  equivalent  to  proof ; 
there  seemed  no  safety.  Many,  spurred  by  fear,  acknowledged 
themselves  to  be  witches  when  acciised,  thinking  thus  to  save 
their  lives  ;  others  hastened  to  complain  that  they  weie  bewitched; 
and  only  those  who  avowed  themselves  to  belong  to  one  of  these 
two  classes  could  be  sure  of  life.  Still  the  panic  spread.  Ando-. 
ver  was  infected.  New  England  at  large  began  to  shudder.  The 
executioner  was  busy.  And  it  was  not  imtil  January,  1692,  that 
the  panic  began  to  abate.  Kiueteen  persons  had  been  hung  ;  one 
had  been  pressed  to  death ;  many  had  been  condemned ;  hun- 
dreds had  been  imprisoned.  So  remorseless,  so  cruel  is  panic. 
But  the  excess  cured  itself ;  the  reaction  was  great ;  men  began  to 
lament  the  part  they  had  i^layed ;  and  some  made  open  confes- 
sion in  church  of  their  grievous  faiilt  and  weakness.  The  infat- 
uation grew  perhaps  from  the  tricks  or  the  craziness  of  the  ' '  be- 
witched "  children ;  perhajis  from  the  folly  or  the  superstition  of 
their  parents.  Whatever  its  cause,  its  effects  were  sad,  and  they 
are  pregnant  vith  warning. 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  these  doings  sprang  naturally  from 
the  theology  and  temper  of  New  England.  Kather,  they  were 
directly  counter  to  both.  They  were  a  weak  and  foolish  importa- 
tion from  Eiirope  ;  and  they  prevailed  in  New  England  only  for  a 
short  season.  Soon  her  sons  outgrew  such  folly  ;  and  nowhere  in 
Christendom  was  the  jjopular  revolution  against  witchcraft  so 
speedy  and  complete  as  in  the  Puritan  colonies. 


EUEEKA.  425 

sand  enongli  to  scour  the  world ;  where  there  are 
110  large  rivers,  but  many  nimble  little  ones,  which 
seem  to  have  been  busy  since  the  flood  in  taking 
exercise  over  rifts  and  rocks.  This  was  their  field 
of  action.  The  only  indigenous  productions  were 
ice,  Indians,  and  stunted  trees.  Trading  and  com- 
mercial adventurers  had  essayed  to  effect  a  settle- 
ment in  vain.  The  soil  was  too  hard  even  for  In- 
dians and  rovers.  It  was  apparently  set  apart  for 
a  wilderness,  and  it  had  peculiar  aptitudes  for  keep- 
ing man  away  from  it.  Its  summers  were  short, 
its  winters  were  long,  its  rocks  were  innumerable, 
its  soil  was  thin."  Yet  the  Pilgrims  entered  and 
subdued  this  waste,  making  it  to  bud  with  churches 
and  to  bloom  Avitli  schools;  cultivating  it  to  the 
sterile  hill-tops;  dotting  the  landscape  with  neat 
farm-houses,  factories,  mills,  the  evidences  and  the 
tokens  of  a  ripe,  full  civilization. 

But  the  fierce  struggle  with  nature  left  its  scars 
ujDon  the  Pilgrims,  and  it  has  marked  their  chil- 
dren. They  had  to  seize  and  impress  into  their 
service  every  help.  This  begot  the  inventive  fac- 
ulty, and  the  habit  of  looking  at  every  thing  from 
the  angle  of  its  utility.  This  it  was  which  strung 
factories  on  every  stream-side,  as  gold  beads  are 
hung  on  a  silver  cord;  which  used  every  drop  of 
water  a  dozen  times  over  in  turning  wheels  before 
it  was  suffered  to  run,  weary  and  fretted,  to  the  sea; 
which  sent  the  little  feet  toddling  to  the  woodpile 
to  pick  up  chips;  which  made  labor-saving  ma- 
chines, those  gnomes  whose  cunning  fingers  were 


426  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEES. 

to  work  up  tlie  black  earth  and  the  Laid  rock  into 
goklcn  grains. 

"  Looking,  therefore,  at  civihzatiou  in  New  Eug- 
Land,  we  see  a  people  beginning  without  aristocracy 
or  hierarchical  forms.  We  see  the  leadinu:  men 
among  them  educated  and  honorable ;  the  working 
men  devoted  to  agriculture  and  owners  of  the  soil. 
We  see  all  resisting  the  incoming  of  a  state  church, 
persistently  opposing  a  distant  but  domineering 
court;  and,  singularly  enough,  through  nigh  two 
centuries  of  savage  and  civilized  war,  steadily  refu- 
sing to  organize  a  standing  army,  trusting  to  the 
native  valor  of  the  mass.  Thus  the  commonalty 
educated  themselves  by  daily  practice  in  self-gov- 
ernment, until,  at  this  present  time,  rulers  there  are 
simply  lay-figures  for  show-days." 

"  The  Pilgrims  were  readers.  Drunkenness, 
23auj)erism,  filth,  and  dilapidation,  nowhere  abound- 
ed. They  were  thrifty,  and  industrious,  and  frugal ; 
and  so,  though  the  land  Avas  poor,  they  lived  in 
comfort.  Money  was  hard  to  get,  and  carefully 
spent ;  no  man  lavished  it,  or  lent  it  except  on  good 
security;  yet  nowhere  else  was  there  such  a  con- 
stant contribution  for  the  relief  of  sufferino;  or  the 
cure  of  secular  and  religious  ignorance;  nowhere 
else  would  men  more  quickly  risk  life  and  health  to 
serve  a  fellow.  As  there  was  no  aristocrac}-,  so 
there  was  no  inferior  or  pariah  class,  except  when, 
at  an  unguarded  moment,  negro  slavery  crept  in 
for  a  time.  But  servitude  was -so  palpably  contrary 
to  the  genius  and  principles  of  the  Pilgrims,  that  it 


EUEEKA.  427 

was  banished  as  soon  as  tlie  mind  and  conscience 
grappled  with  it ;"  for  the  corner-stone  of  New  Eng- 
land was  religion,  and  the  top-stone  was  honest, 
self-respecting,  well-paid,  and  skilled  labor.  Keli- 
gion  and  labor  begot  that  spirit  which  has  tamed 
the  continent,  cheered  it  with  churches  and  schools, 
set  the  busy  spindles  humming  and  the  shuttles 
flying,  plunged  into  the  earth  and  into  the  sea,  run 
over  the  prairies,  talking  by  lightning  from  the  At- 
lantic to  the  Pacific,  until  the  whole  land  where 
men  are  intelligent,  industrious,  and  free,  seems 
singing  and  smiling  at  its  daily  work. 

The  Pilgrim  Fathers  literally  obeyed  the  injunc- 
tion of  the  great  German  poet — they  knew  the  aim 
and  reason  of  yesterday ;  they  worked  well  to-day 
for  worthy  things,  calmly  trusting  the  future's  hid- 
den season,  and  believing  with  unquestioning  faith 
that  their  children  would  eat  of  the  fruit  of  the  tree 
which  they  had  planted  in  a  sterile  soil  and  under 
wintry  skies.  Patient  in  waiting,  they  never  hur- 
ried ;  they  did  not  dig  up  their  seed  every  twelve 
hours  to  see  whether  it  had  sprouted.  Without 
haste,  they  were  also  without  rest ;  and  in  their 
treatment  of  causes,  they  never  paused  to  worry 
and  fret  about  effects ;  for  they  knew  that  justice 
was  the  best  policy,  and  that  the  steady  every-day 
bravery  which  vaunteth  not  itself  is  more  than  a 
match  for  the  Hotspur  valor  which  presumes  that 
any  cause  is  good  which  is  desperately  defended. 

The  Pilgrims  were  men  of  conscience;  and  this 
they  carried  with  them  into  Avork  and  into  states- 


428  THE  PILGRIM  FATHEES. 

mansliip.  Quincy  Adams  once,  in  a  happy  moment, 
called  New  England  "  the  colony  of  conscience." 
It  was  a  religions  plantation,  not  an  essay  for  trade. 
"  He  that  made  religion  as  twelve  and  the  world  as 
thirteen  had  not  the  spirit  of  a  true  New  England 
man."  "  Keligion  was  the  object  of  the  Pilgrims  ; 
it  was  also  their  consolation.  With  this  the  wounds 
of  the  outcast  Avere  healed,  and  the  tears  of  exile 
were  sweetened." 

Puritanism  has  been  finely  called  religion  strug- 
gling for  the  people — evoking,  in  the  logical  se- 
quence of  events,  political  equality.  "  Those  pe- 
culiar outward  emblems,  which  were  its  badges  at 
first,  were  of  transient  duration ;  like  the  clay  and 
ligaments  with  which  the  graft  is  held  in  its  place, 
made  to  be  brushed  away  as  soon  as  the  scion  is 
firmly  united.  The  spirit  of  the  Pilgrims  was  a 
life-giving  spirit ;  activity,  thrift,  intelligence,  lib- 
erty, followed  in  its  train;  and  as  for  courage,  a 
coward  and  a  Puritan  never  went  together.  '  He 
that  prays  best  and  preaches  best  will  fight  best;' 
such  was  the  judgment  of  Cromwell,  the  greatest 
soldier  of  his  age." 

From  any  enumeration  of  the  elements  of  the 
early  colonial  felicity,  purity  of  morals  must  not  be 
omitted.  "As  Ireland  would  not  brook  venomous 
serpents,  so  would  not  that  land  vile  livers."  One 
might  dwell  there  "  from  year  to  year,  and  not  see 
a  drunkard,  nor  hear  an  oath,  nor  meet  a  beggar." 
The  consequence  was  wide-sjDread  health,  one  of 
the  chief  promoters  of  social  happiness. 


EUEEKA.  429 

As  for  the  soil,  it  was  owned  by  the  colonists. 
It  was  boiiglit  and  paid  for.  The  little  farms,  the 
straggling  villages,  the  slowly-growing  towns,  were 
the  absolute  private  property  of  their  occupants ; 
and  in  a  time  of  unusual  commotion,  when  their 
settlements,  for  which  they  had  done  and  dared  so 
much,  seemed  menaced  with  subversion — seemed 
liable  to  be  converted  into  a  receptacle  for  all  the 
spawn  of  England — the  Pilgrims  assumed  to  decide, 
standing  on  their  own  grounds,  who  should  be  wel- 
comed among  them  as  fellow-citizens,  who  should 
be  treated  as  guests,  and  who  should  be  bidden  to 
depart,  never  to  return  under  the  heaviest  penalty. 

Yet  "  on  every  subject  but  religion,  the  mildness 
of  Puritan  legislation  corresponded  to  the  popular 
character  of  the  Puritan  doctrines.  Hardly  a  Euro- 
pean nation  has  as  yet  made  its  criminal  code  as 
humane  as  was  that  of  early  New  England.  The 
Pilgrims  brushed  a  crowd  of  offences  at  one  sweep 
from  the  catalogue  of  capital  crimes.  They  never 
countenanced  the  idea  that  the  forfeiture  of  human 
life  may  be  demanded  for  the  protection  of  mate- 
rial interests.  The  punishment  for  theft,  burglary, 
highway  robbery,  was  far  more  mild  than  the  pen- 
alties imposed  even  by  modern  American  legislation. 
Domestic  discipline  "was  highly  valued ;  but  if  the 
law  was  severe  against  the  child  who  Avas  undutiful, 
it  was  also  severe  against  the  parent  who  was  faith- 
less. The  earlier  laws  did  not  decree  imimsonment 
for  debt,  except  when  there  was  an  appearance  of 
some  estate  which  the  debtor  would  not  produce. 


430  THE   PILGRIM  FATHERS. 

Even  the  brute  creation  was  not  forgotten ;  and  cru- 
elty to  animals  was  a  civil  offence.  The  sj unpathies 
of  the  colonists  were  wide ;  a  regard  for  Protestant 
Germany  was  as  old  as  emigration ;  and  during  the 
Thirty  Years'  war,  the  Pilgrims  held  fasts  and  offer- 
ed prayers  for  the  success  of  the  Saxon  cause" — 
crowned  with  the  gospel. 

But  the  glory  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  was  their 
faith.  They  trusted  God,  and  acted.  The  secret 
of  their  strength  and  success  was  the  open  Bible 
and  the  family  altar.  They  were  men,  and  there- 
fore not  infallible.  They  sometimes  erred  griev- 
ously, and  walked  limping  and  awrj^ ;  but  they 
always  meant  right,  and  Avith  God's  word  as  a  lamp 
to  their  feet,  they  could  not  stray  and  grope  far  or 
long  from  the  sunlight.  To  much  that  the  Pilgrim 
conscientiously  believed,  and  with  his  whole  heart 
accepted,  the  present  age  has  grown  careless;  we 
are  lukewarm  or  indifferent  upon  some  points  which 
he  esteemed  vital;  but  it  is  small  credit  to  us,  if  we 
are  tolerant  of  error  simply  because  we  care  little 
for  truth.  In  former  times  New  England  was  not 
latitudinarian ;  and,  clad  in  her  sparkling  snow, 
crowned  with  her  evergreen  pine,  the  glory  of  her 
brow  was  justice,  the  splendor  of  her  eye  was  lib- 
erty, the  strength  of  her  hands  was  industrj^,  the 
whiteness  of  her  bosom  was  faith ;  for  the  Pilgrims 
were  men  of  absolute  conviction.  Moral  earnest- 
ness was  the  key  with  which  they  unlocked  the 
treasure-house  of  success.  They  were  always  true 
to  their  highest  conceptions ;  and  they  could  say 


EUREKA.  431 

as  Paul  said  to  Agrippa,  "  T  obeyed  the  heavenly 
vision." 

Yet  they  were  not  visionaries,  but  they  made 
that  fine  distinction  between  material  nature  and 
spirituality:  "giving  to  Caesar  the  things  which 
are  Cnesar's,  and  unto  God  the  things  which  are 
God's."  Thus  it  was  that,  though  they  were  the 
most  practical  of  men,  they  were  also  the  most  spir- 
itual— wedding  a  paradox. 

The  curse  of  our  age  is  materialism.  We  kin- 
dle only  within  the  sphere  of  material  interests  and 
pursuits.  On  higher  subjects  we  are  as  cold  as  an 
ice-field  on  the  breast  of  Alp,  There  is  an  apothe- 
osis of  dirt.  Men  do  not  lialf  believe  in  what  they 
cannot  see,  and  feel,  and  handle.  They  group 
about  them  tlie  tokens  of  their  skill — steam-en- 
gines, and  telegraphs,  and  sewing-machines — and 
worship  these  as  the  ultimate  good,  saying,  "See, 
these  are  the  realities  of  life." 

The  Pilgrim  spirit  protests  against  this  tend- 
ency. It  comes  to  remind  us  that  the  controllers 
of  the  present,  the  moulders  of  the  future,  are  not 
the  babblers  who  plead  for  an  unreal  realism ;  that 
they  are  not  the  heaviest  brains  of  the  epoch,  but 
the  heroes  of  religious  earnestness,  men  inspired 
by  drinking  from  the  spiritual  springs,  men  v/ho  go 
forth  to  fight  like  the  red  knight  of  Odessa,  with  the 
cross  emblazoned  on  their  shield,  and  with  Christ 
buried  in  their  hearts.  Behind  intellect  there  must 
be  a  ground-swell  of  religious  earnestness,  else  brains 
are  a  snare,  and  useless.     Rousseau,  and  Voltaire, 


432  THE  PILGEIM  FATHEES. 

and  Pascal,  do  not  mark  the  ages.  Name  them  any- 
where, and  scores  of  vacant  eyes  Avill  askjoii,  "Who 
are  they  ?"  The  Luthers,  the  Calvins,  the  Bidleys, 
the  Brewsters,  shake  the  world,  seize  all  hearts,  and 
educate  the  centuries,  because  they  were  fired  by 
conviction,  and  built  for  God. 

This  is  the  lesson  which  the  story  of  the  Pil- 
grims teaches  us.  Let  us  heed  it;  and  then,  clasp- 
ing hands  with  the  martyrs  and  apostles,  we  too 
may  press  forward  with  our  "  garlands  and  singing- 
robes  about  us,"  and  by  battling  for  Christ,  insure 
for  ourselves  in  the  long  hereafter  a  blessed  rest 
and  a  fragrant  memory. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 

Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


smSAlW^fi 


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FEB  2  1  1993 


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University  of  C 
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